Yerevan-Based Soldier Killed in Azerbaijani Shelling Should Not Have Been Drafted to NKR

Robert Mkrtchyan, 20-year-old Yerevan-based soldier who died on September 25 in an Azerbaijani howitzer attack on one of the military units deployed in northeastern Karabakh, was the only child of a single parent and shouldn't have been drafted to Martakert, NKR, Irakan.info reporter Seda Ghukasyan, who attended the soldier's funeral in the Yerablur military pantheon on Monday, September 28, writes.

Under the Article 11.7 of the Armenian law on compulsory military service, the author stresses, recruits who have lost both parents, as well as children of single parents who don't have an adult sister or brother should be granted an opportunity to serve in a military unit close to their place of residence. 

Ghukasyan inquired from the Head of the Public Relations and Press Department at the RA Ministry of Defense, General Vardan Avetisyan who was present at Mkrtchyan's funeral as to why a Yerevan-registered child of a single parent had been drafted to Nagorno-Karabakh; however, the General advised the reporter to apply to the military commissariat.