Opinion | Armenia’s conscription reforms codify class division

In 2018, as societal divisions — against the backdrop of inequality, injustice, human rights violations, and state-sponsored violence and persecution — deepened due to the continuous inequalities of the corrupt elite, Armenians took to the streets in a movement that later turned into the Velvet Revolution. People demanded dignity, justice, and a clean break from corruption and the inequalities of the past. Yet, the government that came to power on a wave of civic resistance has now approved a bill that monetises military service, solidifying the very class divisions it vowed to dismantle through a fair judiciary system and robust anti-corruption efforts. The existence of this bill itself proves the failure of those efforts and their enforcement.

The newly proposed conscription reform, approved by the government on 22 May and now awaiting parliamentary adoption, lays bare this contradiction. The bill offers young men the chance to drastically reduce their military service if they can afford it. For a payment of $62,000, conscripts would serve just one month before being moved to the reserve list. A $47,000 payment would require four months of service, while those unable to pay would continue to serve the full 24 months without compensation.

The proposal goes even further: boys under 16 would face a future obligation of $39,000, to be resolved through payment, conscription, or as a fee for renouncing Armenian citizenship. The maximum conscription age would also be raised to 32, expanding the pool of potential draftees.

The government has presented the reforms as a pragmatic step to ensure that everyone contributes to the army. In reality, however, this is far from providing people with a meaningful choice in how they serve. It is a surrender to a corrupt system.

In the Armenian military, service has symbolised a form of shared sacrifice. While this has never fully held true due to widespread corruption and nepotism in pre-revolutionary Armenia, the army was one of the few institutions where class, status, and wealth were not supposed to grant exemptions. On 8 May 2018, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan promised an end to privilege, declaring that ‘there will be no privileged people in Armenia. Everyone will be equal before the law’. Yet this reform reverses that promise. It grants the wealthiest the legal privilege to opt out of danger at the expense of those who cannot afford to pay.

It is also deeply rooted in Armenian society that military service is a civic obligation. Of course, the disorder and corruption in the army have led many to view service as a commodity, something to buy and bypass. Yet instead of addressing this issue, the new legislation only strengthens this perception.

In a just society, citizenship entails both rights and responsibilities, grounded in the assumption that all members of society are equal participants in the common good. When the state allows wealth to determine who serves and who is spared, it abandons this principle. It signals that the burdens of defending the country are not collectively owned but can be shifted onto the shoulders of those with fewer opportunities. This undermines the social contract itself, the very idea behind the ruling Civic Contract party in Armenia, the unwritten agreement that all citizens, by virtue of living under the same laws, share in both the privileges and duties of public life.

Turning military duty into a transaction fractures this contract, replacing mutual obligation with market logic and treating some lives as more expendable than others. This is not in line with the logic of the Velvet Revolution of love and unity — this is its undoing.

In a country like Armenia, where economic and structural inequalities remain deeply rooted and the minimum wage is less than $200 per month, serving in the military stops being about choice and becomes economic coercion. The government privileges wealth over equity, undermining the very ideals the revolution was meant to uphold. The poor do not have a choice in such a system. They are not given an alternative, only the rich are afforded the opportunity to buy their way out of risk, and the duty to serve stops being moral or patriotic.

Any public institution in a society should reflect that society at large. Instead, the army will become only ‘the poor man’s army’.

Truth be told, Armenia is not alone in exploring payment-based alternatives. Turkey, for example, offers a ‘paid exemption’ system that allows men to serve only a few weeks for a fee, though the cost is significantly lower and adjusted annually. Class-based evasion from military service is also prevalent in countries with authoritarian regimes, such as Russia, though typically not through legal channels.

But Armenia is a transitional democracy, and such initiatives do not align with the country’s proclaimed democratic aspirations. The Armenian government should not borrow the tactics of authoritarian regimes legalising inequality and corruption, but should instead accelerate efforts to fix injustice.

For Armenian society, corruption and inequality have long been red lines. People took to the streets against state-sponsored violence and coercion in the hopes of having a democratic government by the people, for the people. This ‘reform’ crosses those red lines.

Moreover, a country that has adopted democracy as its main token to resolve both external security threats and internal legitimacy crises cannot afford to autocratise or adopt the practices of authoritarian regimes in the region.

The debate in parliament must centre not only on military logistics, but on the issues of social justice and inequality that this law creates. Relevant committees, civil society groups, and the Human Rights Defender of Armenia must take a public position against such initiatives.

If parliament passes this law, it will not only codify class division, it will mark the end of civic equality as a guiding principle. But the backlash also shows that the public still remembers the promises of 2018. It is not too late to honour them.

Armenian MP suggests allowing conscripts to pay up to $50,000 to reduce length of military service

The proposal, which was made by an MP from the ruling Civil Contract party, is said to have been greenlit by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan