Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan and other top government officials visited Yerevan’s Yerablour Military Pantheon today to mark Army Day, a public holiday commemorating the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

Pashinyan laid flowers at the graves of Vazgen Sargsyan (Armenia’s first defense minister), General Andranik Ozanian, and a monument dedicated to fallen soldiers.

The country’s army was established on January 28 1992, by decree of Armenian Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed Army Day into law as an official holiday in 2001.

National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, in a statement to mark Army Day, said the Pashinyan government “has done and is doing everything so that Armenia has a modern, strong and combat-ready army, which will become the guarantor and defender of the independence, security and sovereignty of our state.”

Marking Army Day, Armenian Apostolic Church Catholicos Garegin II said given the security challenges facing Armenia “it’s imperative to further strengthen our army so that our soldiers continue the sacred mission of defending the homeland with high combat efficiency and their unwavering spirit.”

Pashinyan, in a Facebook post today, writes that all problems within the army stem from the morals inherent in Armenian society.

Photo (from left): Vahagn Khachaturyan, Nikol Pashinyan, Alen Simonyan)