Anna Hakobyan, Armenia PM’s wife starts combat training

Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, announced on Tuesday that she has begun military training and will soon join the Armenian forces fighting against Azerbaijan in the highly-contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. She has enlisted herself as part of a 13-member female squad, to defend the borders. Anna Hakobyan, 42, wrote on her Facebook page, a detachment of 13 females, including myself, will begin military training exercises. In a few days, we will depart to assist with the protection of our borders and our homeland. Neither our homeland nor our dignity will be surrendered to the enemy, she wrote on October 26, according to reports in local media. She had also had written the following on her Facebook page days ago to the people of Armenia, it’s time for you to rush to the military front and show the world what Armenian men are capable of doing to protect their homeland, homes, wives, children and parents. This will be her second military training course since the resurgence of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Just last month, Hakobyan and a group of women from Karabakh underwent a seven-day combat training course at a military base, where they learnt how to use arms and ammunition. On October 5, her son Ashot Pashinyan volunteered to go to the front in Karabakh. He was born in 2000 and had only recently returned from mandatory military service.

Anna Hakobyan is the chief editor of the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper. She also founded the My Step charitable foundation and initiated the Women for the Peace movement. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pashinyan had also urged Armenians to join the army and fight Azerbaijan’s aggression against Karabakh.