The Armenian government intends to abolish temporary exemptions from military
service that have long been enjoyed by university students, a senior lawmaker
confirmed on Monday.

Armenian law has until now allowed draft-age men enrolled in state-run
universities to perform the two-year compulsory service after completing their
undergraduate and/or graduate studies.

Reports in the Armenian press have said that the government has drafted legal
amendments that will scrap the deferments. Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and
other top government officials have pointedly declined to refute those reports.

Armen Ashotian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament’s committee on science,
education and youth affairs, went farther, indicating that the amendments’
submission to the National Assembly is a matter of time. He argued that
Armenia’s conscription-based army will increasingly face personnel shortages as
it begins to draft young men born in the early 1990s.

The country’s population and birth rate sharply declined during those years
because of the collapse of the Armenian economy and the resulting mass
out-migration of hundreds of thousands of its citizens.

“The draft is reaching [those born during] the years of the so-called
demographic slump,” said Ashotian. He said the government and the National
Assembly should put in place financial and other incentives that would encourage
demobilized soldiers to complete their higher education.

Vahan Shirkhanian, an opposition politician who had served as deputy defense
minister throughout the 1990s, criticized the planned measure, saying it does
not represent a fundamental solution to the problem. He said the loss of more
mature university graduates, who are typically trained to become sergeants
during their service, would hit the army hard.

Shirkhanian told RFE/RL that instead of drafting 18-year-old students the
authorities should increase the number of military personnel serving on a
contractual basis. “This is the only way of strengthening Armenia’s army,” he
said.

The percentage of volunteer soldiers serving in Armenia’s Armed Forces has
already risen significantly over the past decade.

By Anush Martirosian