DILIJAN. - The Constitutional amendments will only positively impact the combat-readiness of the army.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said the aforementioned at the meeting with demobilized servicemen in Dilijan on Friday, adding that he can already see positive trends in the Defense Ministry today. 

“I want to praise the Defense Minister on that relevant people indeed hold relevant offices. And, overall, boys who have manifested their courage should serve in the Defense Ministry,” the President said, stressing that the Constitutional amendments would never had been initiated if they were not to positively impact the army.

Sarsgyan noted that the obligation of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is to mobilize the country’s resources for solving a military and political task. “But how can he mobilize if these decisions are made by the Government? Imagine what would happen if the right to make such decisions in the Government belonged to another political force. It won’t take such a decision. Let’s say, we need $100 million 50 billion to solve a military and political task, while the given political force thinks that this $50 billion should be spent on reducing the poverty in Armenia. That is, currently, the responsibility is on the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the right being in another place. We have so far been able to resolve this issue, since we are the same political force in the President’s Office and the Government. But if this balance is disturbed, many problems may arise. We have done the following: the one who has rights is the one who is responsible. We have made an adjustment and thereby raised the role of the Defense Minister,” the President noted, adding that the Defense Minister is a member equivalent to the Government.

Under the new Constitution, the Defense Minister will have a wide scope of actions in peaceful period, while the troops will obey the Government. During military period, the Prime Minister will become the Commander-in-Chief, there being no danger here in terms of the army, the President stressed.