Armenia
Military: Armenia
Military branches:
Armenian Armed Forces: Ground Forces, Air Force and Air Defense; "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic": Nagorno-Karabakh Self-Defense Force (NKSDF) (2011)
Military service age and obligation:
18-27 years of age for voluntary or compulsory military service; 2-year conscript service obligation; 17 year olds are eligible to become cadets at military higher education institutes, where they are classified as military personnel (2012)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 805,847
females age 16-49: 854,296 (2010 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 644,372
females age 16-49: 717,272 (2010 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 23,470
female: 21,417 (2010 est.)
Military expenditures:
country comparison to the world: 46
Transnational Issues: Armenia
Disputes - international:
the dispute over the break-away Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan remains the primary focus of regional instability; residents have evacuated the former Soviet-era small ethnic enclaves in Armenia and Azerbaijan; Turkish authorities have complained that blasting from quarries in Armenia might be damaging the medieval ruins of Ani, on the other side of the Arpacay valley; in 2009, Swiss mediators facilitated an accord reestablishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey, but neither side has ratified the agreement and the rapprochement effort has faltered; local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders; ethnic Armenian groups in the Javakheti region of Georgia seek greater autonomy from the Georgian Government
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 6,000 (Syria - ethnic Armenians) (2013)
IDPs: 8,400 (conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2009)
Illicit drugs:
illicit cultivation of small amount of cannabis for domestic consumption; minor transit point for illicit drugs - mostly opium and hashish - moving from Southwest Asia to Russia and to a lesser extent the rest of Europe