Powerful Army, Foreign Relations and Legitimacy: PM Pashinyan on Tools to Ensure Security

YEREVAN (Armradio) — Ensuring the security of the country and the state is the daily work of any government and head of government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.

He said nowadays the issue is practically urgent for many countries due to the international situation, the Prime Minister said, noting that the first tool for ensuring security is the strengthening of the army.

“It’s necessary to reform and strengthen the army, have a combat-ready army capable of solving problems. The second tool for ensuring security is foreign relations. I think there is nothing new in these two statements. I consider it important to add legitimacy to these two factors, because both in foreign relations and in the context of army-building it is very important to have legitimate goals, legitimate from international viewpoint. Not only and not so much from an internal point of view, but from an international point of view,” the Prime Minister noted.

“If there is a dissonance between the internal and external perceptions, this is where the security threat is generated. In order to address the security threat, that gap must be closed,” Pashinyan added.

“I see legitimacy within the internationally recognized borders of the Republic of Armenia. It is the legitimate right of every country to have a strong and capable army, but this issue needs further discussion, because if you have a strong and capable army to achieve legitimate goals, no one can say why you are strengthening your army. Problems may arise if you set a goal whose legitimacy can be questioned internationally,” said Nikol Pashinyan.

“We need to strengthen our army, make it combat-ready in order to protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of our country, and no one can tell us “Why are you doing this?” In case we declare we are strengthen the army in order to restore historical justice, a very simple question arises: “Why should others allow that army to grow stronger to solve a question of historical justice?” It is not reasonable to allow that army to become strong and have to deal with that strengthened army,” said the Prime Minister.

“I say that we should not send such messages to the world, but I also do not want this conversation to be between us and the world, I want this conversation to be between us and us,” the Prime Minister stated.