ARMENIAN MP: IT IS EASIER TO ADOPT A NEW LAW ‘ON DEFENSE’ THAN AMEND THE FORMER ONE

ArmInfo
2008-10-23 18:17:00

ArmInfo. The acting law "On defense" was adopted in May 1997
when Armenia already has armed forces, a governing system and an
established army, Head of the Standing Parliamentary Commission for
Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs Artur Aghabekyan told
ArmInfo correspondent when commenting upon the new law "On defense"
adopted by the parliament in the first reading, Thursday.

Before the adoption of the law in 1997 one was guided by the
government’s decisions, orders of the defense minister and decrees
of the president. "The law was adopted with due regard for our
experience in the defense sphere and the Soviet Union’s experience",
the MP noted. As Aghabekyan noted, for a long time representatives
of the Armenian army familiarized themselves with other countries’
experience, furthermore, after reforming of the Armenian Constitution
it was necessary to bring the law "On defense" in conformity with
the Constitution to enhance the defensive capacity of the Armenian
army. "It was necessary to change a lot of things in the law,
therefore we preferred adopting a new law rather than amending it",
the MP said. He also stressed that the process of elaboration of
the new law started when Serzh Sargsyan was the defense minister of
Armenia. "The main principle laid in the new law is that armed forces
are a non-political structure and are under civil control. Civilians
are to work at the defense ministry, and the defense minister, being
an employee of the government, is also to be a civilian", Aghabekyan
said. Actually, in Armenia all defense ministers were civilians, except
Vagharshak Haroutyunyan, as this was permitted by the law, he added.