Artur Chakhoyan said he was orally summoned to a military recruitment office in Yerevan and informed about his inclusion in an upcoming 25-day callup of reservists.
“It’s an honor to participate in callups,” Chakhoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “I don’t shy away from them. I had served in Artsakh as soon as I turned 18. It’s just unfortunate that state structures, including the Defense Ministry, use them for political reasons.”
“The goal of all this is to silence me by putting pressure on me on the eve of the elections,” he said.
Chakhoyan claimed military officials were aware that under Armenian law he cannot be mobilized by the armed forces because of being prosecuted in two criminal cases related to his activities. That is why, he said, they did not send him a written summons contrary to the common practice.
“They thought I will be scared and offer them a deal, saying: ‘Please don’t draft me, I’ll shut up ahead of the elections,’” he said.
The Defense Ministry did not comment on the claims. Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsian likewise stayed silent when an opposition lawmaker brought up the issue during Monday’s meeting of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security attended by him. The committee chairman, Andranik Kocharian, denied any political motives behind the military’s reported attempt to call up Chakhoyan.
Kocharian had openly called on military officials in 2022 to draft opposition activists participating in anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan. Dozens of such men were reportedly called up in the following weeks.
Chakhoyan is known for his hard-hitting videos accusing the Yerevan municipality of corruption and incompetence. One of the videos posted on Facebook late last month showed what he called a poor quality of tiling work carried out on the main alley of the Yerablur military cemetery last year.
In April 2025, Chakhoyan was publicly beaten up by the then head of the city’s Nor Nork district, Tigran Ter-Margarian, and other local officials after trying to enter the district administration building. Ter-Margarian was charged with violent assault and resigned a few weeks later.
Investigators also brought hooliganism charges against Chakhoyan. The blogger, who spent several days in hospital, had claimed to have been physically attacked by three other men outside his home in 2023.