By KRIKOR KHODANIAN
One of the most painful chapters of the modern history of the Armenian people is undoubtedly the defeat suffered during the 44-day war of 2020. This not only ended in territorial losses but also led to a human tragedy, where 120,000 Artsakh Armenians were deprived of their historic homeland — their homes and prosperity — and received the status of refugees.
For many years to come — perhaps decades — there will be discussions and writings about the causes of this defeat, trying to understand all the events that preceded the war and led to the catastrophic failure on the battlefield.
The special investigative commission formed within the National Assembly, which has been tasked with studying the circumstances of the war, promises to publish the results of its work in the upcoming September. From that, perhaps lessons can be learned to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future. Whether the forthcoming report will truly shed light on the real reasons behind the failure remains an open question. Another uncertainty is how accessible the published investigations will be to the general public, considering that there will be information that will be redacted for security reasons.
While awaiting the commission’s report, we must address some issues that are already known to the public. Former leaders of Armenia, being deeply involved in widespread and systemic corruption, either did not wish or were unable to allocate sufficient funds for the strengthening and modernization of the army. According to international organizations that track armament data, in the decade (or more) leading up to the war, Azerbaijan’s military spending was ten times greater than the amount allocated by Armenia’s budget for defense. During those same years, while the enemy was arming itself to the teeth, Armenian authorities were misleading the nation with fabricated statements like “Armenia has the most combat-ready army in the region.” Time came to show that these were empty words meant to cover their inaction and treacherous deeds.
Among those deeds is the introduction of corruption into the army. In recent days, the prosecutor’s office has confirmed that new charges have been brought against former president Serzh Sargsyan and sent to court. According to the indictment, military unit commander Aleksan Aleksanyan acted as a fictitious buyer and assisted Serzh Sargsyan — at the time serving as Minister of Defense — in the embezzlement of property. He also helped members of the “Toyota-Yerevan” company to legalize large-scale property obtained illegally. Serzh Sargsyan allegedly offered the commander a share of the profit in exchange for posing as a fictitious buyer, participating in the sale of land adjacent to the Yerablur military pantheon, registering it under his name, and then selling it to the “Toyota-Yerevan” company to receive the proceeds. The “Toyota-Yerevan” company belongs to Sedrak Kocharyan, son of Robert Kocharyan.
A similar accusation has been made against another high-ranking military officer who, along with Serzh Sargsyan, was involved in another such transaction.
While respecting the presumption of innocence for all the accused, there are numerous examples of high-ranking military officers involved in such actions, thereby tarnishing the moral image of the officer class. The list of those responsible for the Armenian army’s defeat during the war is long, and we will continue to address this issue so that history records the realities accordingly — without assigning all the blame solely to the party that had been in power for only two years, while the roots of the defeat go much deeper and much further back.
“MASSIS”
Note: Translated with the assistance of ChatGBT
