Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that he had sent a proposal to the President of the Republic Armen Sargsyan to dismiss Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan. He announced this on Saturday, February 27, on his Facebook page.
According to Pashinyan, the decision of the president of the republic not to approve the resignation of the chief of the general staff does not correspond to the settlement of the situation.
“The President decided to send back to the Prime Minister’s office a proposal to dismiss the chief of the General Staff. This step is not conducive to resolving the current situation. I am again sending the President a proposal to dismiss the head of the General Staff, expecting that it will be signed in due course, ”the Prime Minister wrote.
The day before, on February 27, the press service of Armenia reported that the president of the republic had not signed a decree on the dismissal of the chief of the general staff of Onik Gasparyan, whose resignation was sought by Pashinyan. It was reported that the president does not support any political force, but makes decisions based solely on national interests.
A day earlier, on February 26, Sargsyan met with Gasparyan.
On February 25, the Armenian Armed Forces issued a statement demanding the resignation of Pashinyan. The Prime Minister saw this as an attempt at a coup, calling on his supporters to take to the streets with protests, and Gasparyan to leave the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces.
The Armenian opposition, in turn, after calls by the leader of the opposition Movement to Save the Motherland, Vazgen Manukyan, staged protests and demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister.
Opposition supporters have spent their second night in a tent camp outside the walls of parliament.
The opposition accuses the prime minister of Armenia’s “surrender” after the signing of an agreement to end hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The document, which was signed by Baku and Yerevan with the mediation of Moscow, provides for a ceasefire in Karabakh, an exchange of prisoners between the parties to the conflict, the transfer of several regions of the region by Armenia to Azerbaijan and the return of refugees home. Pashinyan considers the agreement the only way to end the bloodshed.