Armenian armed forces are 30 years old
YEREVAN, January 28. /ARKA/. Armenia on Friday marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of its armed forces. On January 28, 1992, the Armenian government adopted a decision to set up Ministry of Defense and the first order of the Minister was published on that same day.
The first phase of the army creation was in 1988-1992, when amid the intensifying Karabakh movement and aggravation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations the problem of ensuring the security of the population of Armenia and Karabakh became urgent.
This difficult mission was undertaken by the first volunteer units, but it was obvious that the issues of protecting the borders and ensuring the security of the population require a state approach.
The process of formation of the Armenian Army went in parallel with the military operations in the Karabakh conflict zone in the late 80 and 90s, the strengthening of borders and the training of army officers.
Although the war in Artsakh in the autumn of 2020 and the events that followed it revealed a number of organizational and engineering problems in the armed forces, nevertheless, their role and importance for the Armenian people remain unprecedented.
Among the pressing issues is ensuring the security of Armenia's borders in the region of Syunik and Gegharkunik (which border Azerbaijan). The thing is that after signing the statement on November 9 by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on ceasing all military operations in Karabakh, more than 190 settlements of Karabakh and seven adjacent regions went under Azerbaijan's control.
As a result, the borders of these two regions of Armenia - Syunik and Gegharkunik - ended up in close proximity to the new borders of Azerbaijan and the length of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border line has increased by about 500 km.
The past year was marked by numerous incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, including deaths and captivity of Armenian servicemen.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0-
