Yerevan: veterans of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict demand to legalize the status of volunteers

In Armenia, veterans of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have demanded from the government to take measures to improve the social status of war veterans, invalids and volunteers. They also demand to define the status of volunteers and provide them with social benefits.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that members of the veterans' initiative group voiced out these demands at a press conference on July 10.

According to Karen Melikbekyan, a veteran of the above conflict, a law should be passed that distinguishes a volunteer from a war veteran, who had gone to war on the government decree. He added that the right to free medical care of volunteers should be fixed in the law.

Veterans presented their demands in a letter to the Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan. In particular, they demand to introduce pensions for volunteers, raise pensions to war invalids and enshrine the right for volunteers' children to get training free of charge.

Let us remind you that in May Vladimir Avetisyan, a retired colonel of the Armenian Army, held a sitting picket in Freedom Square in Yerevan demanding from the government to review the procedure of calculating military pensions. His action was supported by a group of Nagorno-Karabakh veterans.