ONE NATION, ONE WATER PIPELINE, ONE MINISTRY
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 2 2006
It is quite natural that the Supreme Commander-In-Chief of the
Armed Forces should be interested in the quality, effectiveness of
the army, its armament and equipment. Therefore, the society did
not pay special attention to the fact that on October 23 and 24,
while the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs were preparing for their meeting in Paris,
President Robert Kocharyan visited the border installations. Even
if the foreign ministers are not going to meet, the head of state,
who is the Supreme Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces (though
the reporter of Haylur consistently omitted the word "supreme" and
mentioned "commander-in-chief") in accordance with the Constitution,
has to keep the army in the focus of attention if the country is in
a neither war, no peace situation.
Besides, the Supreme Commander-In-Chief has another reason to focus
attention on the army. The point is that the government official,
who is supposed to attend to the problems of the army directly,
i.e. the minister of defense, has enlarged considerably the range
of his activities, and as we learned from Haylur, he already takes
part in the cerermonies of opening of rural water pipelines. And
in order not to appear nonsensical, an explanation is provided: the
defense minister participated because this drinking water pipeline
is his promise. We should confess that the participation is not as
nonsensical as its explanation. The defense minister can promise that
the army is always ready to counteract to any attack, and it should
be noted that Serge Sargsyan always does. The defense minister can
promise that the equipment and armament will always be on an adequate
level, and Serge Sargsyan always does. Meanwhile, it appears that
Serge Sargsyan considers himself is an outsider in the army.
Otherwise, it is impossible to understand what relation the defense
minister has to rural water pipelines, if these villages are located
far from the border. It is very good that several villages of the
region of Aragatsotn already have drinking water supply. But what were
the president and the government busy doing if the defense minister
has think about the supply of drinking water to these villages, let
alone a great deal of other things he has to think about in this crazy
world that is called the Caucasus? After all, Serge Sargsyan personally
stated that he has much more important things to do in this country. In
that case, what are the committee of water resourses, the ministry of
territorial governance, the municipality of Aragatsotn, and finally
the president of the Republic busy doing? Is it possible that Robert
Kocharyan has exchanged places with Serge Sargsyan and now attends
to the problems of the army (after all, was it accidental that Haylur
consistently referred to Robert Kocharyan as the Commander-in-Chief,
omitting "supreme"?), but in this case the public should have been
informed. It is possible, for instance, that in his recent meeting
with Safar Abiyev Serge Sargsyan informed him about this replacement
so that they know in Azerbaijan who to address when the necessity
for an army relation occurs.
For during their meeting in Sadarak many years ago Serge Sargsyan
and the Azerbaijani foreign minister exchanged telephone numbers to
contact when necessary. It is possible that in their recent meeting
Serge Sargsyan gave him Robert Kocharyan’s telephone number.
If this is not true, the president of the Republic should demand
explanation from the minister of defense why he attends to water
pipelines, gas, roads and other communication problems, and listens
and makes promises in the villages, which is televised and broadcast
on the Public Television. In this case, perhaps, it would be correct to
save the salaries of the ministers and other officials supposed to deal
with these matters and direct these funds at military expenditure. It
is also possible that Robert Kocharyan is aware why Serge Sargsyan
attends to these matters. In that case, it would be more honest if
the president resigned allowing the defense minister to occupy the
post of the president in order to formalize his actions and fit into
the logic of the system of government.
However, there is another way of formalizing and logicalizing these
actions: the defense minister is displaced, a structural reform is
carried out in the government, namely the ministries of territorial
management and agriculture are joined and Serge Sargsyan is appointed
head of the new government agency. How about the army? God save
the army.