Post-Displacement Challenges Facing Former Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army Servicemen

10.02.2026

The main long-term assistance program for people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh is the housing provision program, which envisages supporting families in acquiring housing. The amount of assistance ranges between 2 and 5 million drams per family member. One of the main requirements to become a beneficiary of the program is acquiring new citizenship of the Republic of Armenia. The purpose of this article is not to discuss why residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, who were considered citizens of the Republic of Armenia, suddenly ceased to be regarded as such by a single government decision and were directed to reapply for citizenship. However, this process involves numerous pitfalls that are often not publicized and usually remain confined within the citizen–military commissariat–Ministry of Defense military archives triangle.

 

In September 2023, Azerbaijan’s large-scale attack against Nagorno-Karabakh led to the dissolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army. At that moment, all servicemen serving in the Defense Army, including those conscripted for compulsory service, were demobilized. The compulsory conscripts had served between 2 and 22 months, yet they were all discharged simultaneously. Many of them, for security reasons during displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh, destroyed their military ID booklets. Today, other reservists under the age of 35 also, for various reasons, do not possess military ID booklets—either they destroyed them or were unable to retrieve them (some settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh were captured by the enemy quite rapidly, and residents of certain villages were only able to flee on foot through areas not yet controlled by the enemy). In these and similar situations, male citizens face obstacles in the process of acquiring citizenship. For male citizens of a certain age, registering for military service at the military commissariat of their place of residence is mandatory in the process of obtaining a new passport. However, citizens without military ID booklets encounter problems at military commissariats, and those under the age of 35 are offered to undergo compulsory military service again in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. This leads to avoidance of acquiring citizenship, which in turn results in severe social consequences for families that are otherwise ready to benefit from the housing assistance program.

 

Another issue concerns the fair pension entitlements of contract servicemen who served in the Defense Army and are retiring on military pensions in Armenia. Typically, military pensioners receive additional payments calculated based on days of combat duty. However, the Ministry of Defense is now mass-cutting the combat duty supplements for retired contract servicemen (both enlisted and officers), citing the lack of evidence that they performed combat duty. Incidentally, by “Defense Army serviceman” we do not mean the origin of the serviceman; this refers to individuals who served in the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, regardless of their place of birth or registration. This practice leads to a decline in trust toward the state.

 

Another important issue is the absence of a special approach toward servicemen who have gone through war. Servicemen who have endured heavy wars, defeat, and psychological breakdowns require special psychological programs and integration into society. Moreover, servicemen can retire after 20 years of service, which means the retirement age may start from 38. In other words, we end up with a large group of people who have operated under constant tension, endured force majeure situations and escalations, and are still in their prime, whom we leave alone with only a military pension. This is an unaffordable luxury for a country like ours that faces serious demographic challenges. It is particularly unjust toward servicemen who have gone through war.

 

To resolve the above-mentioned problems, rapid response and swift problem-solving within the state system are essential. Naturally, the greatest capacity to address this set of issues lies with the Ministry of Defense—both in initiating the creation of relevant normative acts and in terms of practical implementation.

 

Specifically, it is necessary to establish a special interdepartmental commission to resolve the issues of former Defense Army servicemen who do not have military ID booklets and to restore their military documentation. The commission may also include former employees of the Nagorno-Karabakh military commissariats and former servicemen from various units of the Defense Army. Restoring military ID booklets would enable these individuals to acquire Armenian citizenship, register in the reserve forces of the Republic of Armenia, and benefit from the social programs to which they are entitled. Leaving this issue unresolved means Armenia is simply depriving itself of a certain number of reservists, most of whom have combat experience.

 

For the accurate determination of military pensions, the issue should also be resolved through commissions and an individualized approach. In particular, service-related matters from the last two decades can be resolved quickly, given the fact that during combat duty servicemen received additional payments, which are reflected in bank transfers made by the Ministry of Defense. Therefore, it is very easy to determine how long a serviceman performed combat duty. Trust in the state is a crucial component, especially in the case of servicemen transferred to the reserve, as they are the first to come under the focus of military commissariats during every escalation.

 

After the dissolution of the Defense Army, many servicemen enlisted to serve in other units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. However, their number remains significantly lower than it could have been, considering the potential and size of the Defense Army. Conversations with discharged officers show that the main reason is the low level of discipline in the Armenian Armed Forces, particularly the prevalence of non-regulatory relations among servicemen. There are also other issues that require comprehensive solutions, including assignment locations, housing provision for families, and related matters. Individualized work with officers and enlisted contract servicemen who possess combat experience and skills is especially important to bring them back into the army, as the Armenian Armed Forces are in need of contract servicemen.

 

The next point concerns the implementation of special programs for discharged servicemen who have gone through various wars. These programs may include everything from psychological services to retraining courses, labor market integration, and support for starting their own businesses. The obligations of the Defense Army toward various categories of servicemen (for example, those on housing waiting lists or officers already transferred to the reserve) could be fulfilled by combining them with housing assistance programs for forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh, supplementing the latter with additional funding.

 

For more than 30 years, the Defense Army was one of the most important components of Armenia’s security system. Despite the existing legal confusion, the state must fulfill the obligations it undertook in a timely manner.

Hayk Khanumyan

RCDS