Editing Armed Forces of Armenia (section)

==History==

=== Early Armenian Army ===
{{Main|First Republic of Armenia}}An Armenian military corps was established to fight against the Ottomans during the [[Turkish–Armenian War]] in early 1918. In accordance with the [[Treaty of Batum]] of 4 June 1918 the Ottoman Empire demobilized most of the Armenian army.<ref>Hovannisian. ''Armenia on the Road to Independence'', pp. 197.</ref> Ethnic Armenian conscripts and volunteers in the [[Imperial Russian Army]] would later become the core of the military of the First Armenian Republic.[[File:Armenian_Fedayees_1890-1896.jpg|left|thumb|An [[Armenian fedayi]] group fighting under the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation]] banner, ca. 1890s]]

=== Soviet era ===
The [[7th Guards Army]] was based in Yerevan from 1946 to 1992. In the late 1980s the Army consisted of:

* Directorate – Yerevan
*15th Motor Rifle Division – [[Kirovakan|Kirovakan (now Vanadzor)]]
* 75th Motor Rifle Division – [[Nakhchivan (city)|Nakhichevan]]<ref name="Zerbaijan">{{Cite web|url=http://www.zerbaijan.com/azeri/azarmy.htm#fnB4|title = THE EMERGING ARMY IN AZERBAIJAN by Patrick Gorman}}</ref>
* [[127th Motor Rifle Division (Soviet Union)|127th Motor Rifle Division]] – [[Leninakan|Leninakan (now Gyumri)]] 
* 164th Motor Rifle Division – Yerevan

On 1 June 1992, [[ITAR-TASS]] reported that General [[Fyodor Reut]] said that some units of the 7th Guards Army would begin leaving Armenia in 10–15 days.<ref>{{cite news|date=2 June 1992|title=Troops in Republics won't be withdrawn|newspaper=Boca Raton News|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> The army was disbanded later that summer.<ref>Holm/Feskov 2015, [http://www.ww2.dk/new/army/armies/7gvoa.htm 7th Guards Combined Arms Army]</ref> The former [[Soviet Air Defence Forces|Soviet Air Defense Forces]] in Armenia were drawn from the 14th Air Defense Corps of the 19th Separate Air Defense Army.

=== 1988–1992 ===
{{Main|Armenian volunteer units during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War}}
The modern Armenian military entered its first stage at the beginning of the [[Nagorno-Karabakh conflict]], when Armenian militias were formed to combat [[Azerbaijan]]i units in Artsakh.<ref name="MinDef">Ministry of Defense of Armenia. [http://www.mil.am/eng/index.php?page=25 General History of the Armenian Army] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927012151/http://www.mil.am/eng/index.php?page=25|date=2007-09-27}}. Retrieved 31 January 2006.</ref> On 20 September 1990, the first military unit was created, the Yerevan Special Regiment, with the first oath being held in the Republican Assembly Point and was attended by the first President of Armenia [[Levon Ter-Petrosyan]], Prime Minister [[Vazgen Manukyan]], and defence minister [[Vazgen Sargsyan]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=LLC|first=Ayb Solutions|title=LEGEND OF THE SPECIAL REGIMENT|url=http://www.hayzinvor.am/en/33854.html|access-date=2020-05-15|website=Hay Zinvor|language=en}}</ref> Five battalions were also formed in Ararat, Goris, Vardenis, Ijan and Meghri. In 1991, by the decision of the government, the State Committee of Defense under the Council of Ministers, which facilitated the task of coordinating the defense operations of Armenia, becoming the basis on which the Ministry of Defense was to be established later on.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=hraparak|date=2015-01-28|title=Հայկական բանակը 23 տարեկան է․ Պատմական ակնարկ|url=https://hraparak.am/post/591fa9ffe3d84d0d37fd220e|access-date=2021-03-27|website=ՀՐԱՊԱՐԱԿ|language=hy-AM}}</ref>

=== Post-1992 ===
[[Armenia]] established a Ministry of Defence on 28 January 1992. The first military unit of the defence ministry to be formed was the 1st Airborne Regiment, where the first Armenian soldier took the oath to the nation that March.<ref>{{Cite web|title="Բանակն ուժեղ է, երբ թիկունքին զգում է իր երկրի, ժողովրդի, պետության շունչը, երբ զինվորն իր ոտքի տակ զգում է հայրենի հողի սրբությունը"|url=http://www.irates.am/hy/1424985286?fb_comment_id=714501192004948_1055772527877811|access-date=2021-03-16|website=irates.am|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=1994 թվականի մայիսի 12-ի զինադադարից հետո մենք ահագին առաջ ենք գնացել․ Աստվածատուր...|url=https://a1plus.am/hy/article/358498|access-date=2021-03-16|website=A1Plus|language=hy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Հայաստանի Հանրապետությունը նշում է Զինված ուժերի կազմավորման 20ամյակը: ՖՈՏՈՇԱՐՔ|url=https://armenpress.am/arm/news/677314/Armenia_marks_20th_anniversary_of_formation_of_Armed_Forces_PHOTO_SERIES.html|access-date=2021-03-16|website=armenpress.am|language=hy}}</ref> Since a significant part of the officers of the Armed Forces were fighters of the self-defense volunteer detachments, a center for raising the qualification of officers was established for their qualification and training, which during its activity it provided about 1,500 officer-graduates. The School of Non-Commissioned Officers produced about 1,000 graduates.<ref name=":1" />

The [[Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe]] was ratified by the Armenian parliament in July 1992. The treaty establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of military equipment, such as tanks, artillery, armored combat vehicles, combat aircraft, and combat helicopters, and provides for the destruction of weaponry in excess of those limits. [[Armenia]]n officials have consistently expressed determination to comply with its provisions and thus Armenia has provided data on armaments as required under the CFE Treaty. Despite this, Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of diverting a large part of its military forces to [[Nagorno-Karabakh Republic|Nagorno-Karabakh]] and thus circumventing these international regulations. In March 1993, Armenia signed the multilateral [[Chemical Weapons Convention]], which calls for the eventual elimination of chemical weapons. Armenia acceded to the nuclear [[Non-Proliferation Treaty]] as a non-[[nuclear weapon]]s state in July 1993.

In addition to the branches of services listed above, Armenia established its own [[Internal Troops]] from the former Soviet Interior Troops after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.<ref>See for example http://www.mia.gov.az/index.php?/en/content/278/</ref> Up until December 2002, Armenia maintained a Ministry of Internal Affairs, but along with the Ministry of National Security, it was reorganized as a non-ministerial institution. The two organizations became the [[Police of Armenia]] and the [[National Security Service (Armenia)|National Security Service]].<ref>Taylor and Francis, Europa World Yearbook 2004, p.554</ref>