Students Protest Outside Parliament Building Against Planned Amendments to Military Draft in Armenia

A group of students of the faculty of history of the Yerevan State University today organized a spontaneous demonstration outside the building of Armenia’s National Assembly to protest against the Defense Ministry-initiated amendments to the law on military conscription. Recall, the expected amendments envisage that draft deferments will only be granted to those students who will enter into an agreement with the Defense Ministry to serve in the armed forces as contract officers for 3 years after graduation.

“Since the National Assembly is currently discussing the bill, the faculty of history spontaneously decided to hold a small protest action. Students of other faculties have since joined us, but this not yet a demonstration of For the Development of Science initiative. This is just a single faculty expressing its dissension,” students Gegham Asatryan told Epress.am.

Before militarizing the education and science sphere, the protesters argued, the Ministry of Defense should focus on eliminating corruption in other spheres, and the sphere of health care in particular.

“The problem is that they are trying to unite us around an idea which is rather similar to the idea that ‘those who are not followers of the apostolic church are not real Armenians.’ It’s not right to unite us around a single military or religious idea. There is a vast number of ideas around which people would unite more willingly. They should instead focus on eliminating corruption in the medical field and drafting those who avoid conscription through bribing [medical commissions],” another student argued,