Day of the army.

Today is the Army Day in Armenia. Pigh has posted a thank you note (pigh.livejournal.com/60831.html) for Vazgen Manukian. He was one of the first defense ministers of Armenia and was instrumental in forming the army and should be credited for the preservation of Armenia and Gharabagh and for the eventual victory over the enemy.

I want to join Pigh in his thank you and also mention the contributions that thousands of other Armenians from all over the world have had in building a functional army that we have now. A1+ has a snippet with a brief history of the events:

“THE WHOLE NATION CONTRIBUTED TO THE FORMATION OF THE ARMY”
[04:09 pm] 28 January, 2008

On January 28, 1992, Armenia’s President Levon Ter-Petrossian signed a decree on the formation of the Armenian Army. The armed forces of the Defense Ministry had fought full-scale wars for the sake of the country by then.

The first recruitment was organised in 1991 by Defense Minister Valery Poghossian and first Deputy DM Vagharshak Harutiunian.

The newly-formed army was head by first Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsian. Later on Vazgen Manukian, Serzh Sarkissian, Vagharshak Harutiunian and Michael Harutiunian assumed the post.

Specialists say the Armenian army enjoys the highest efficiency in the region. The first large-scale military parade of September 21, 1999, at the head of Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian and Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Vagharshak Harutiunian testifies to this assessment.

Today we tried to find out Vagharshak Harutiunian’s opinion about the Armenian army. “Independence enabled the Armenian people to determine the country’s future and to win a victory. This is a major achievement. Once we have solved that complicated issue we shall be able to tackle other problems as well.”

Vagharshak Harutiunian considers the army the greatest achievement of independent Armenia. “Surely, it is the highest value of the country. The army was formed thanks the whole nation, the country’s prudent military policy and right assessment of the situation. The combination of all these factors contributed to the formation of the army.”