The opposition in Armenia will insist on holding early parliamentary elections in April. Head of the Enlightened Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan told Izvestia about this. On March 3, he will make a proposal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. During the announced meeting, the opposition will also demand that the decree on the dismissal of the head of the General Staff be canceled. Meanwhile, representatives of the Movement for the Salvation of the Motherland, who are protesting on Baghramyan Avenue, told Izvestia that they agree to early elections, but only if Pashinyan resigns and an interim government is appointed. Meanwhile, the head of the Cabinet intends to hold a referendum in October, where the country’s residents will decide whether to be Armenia and further parliamentary or become a semi-presidential republic.
Knight’s move
On March 2, the political crisis in Armenia came close to the end. At least one of his “heads” is the one related to the attempted “military coup”, as Nikol Pashinyan described the situation.
President Armen Sarkissian stated that he had not signed the prime minister’s petition to dismiss the head of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan. He also did not refer this issue to the Constitutional Court. According to the current legislation of the republic, this means that Pashinyan’s petition comes into force automatically, and on March 4 the head of the General Staff will nevertheless be fired.
At the same time, the president decided to look at the “roots of the problem” and turned to the Constitutional Court on a different matter: he asked to check the amendments made back in 2018 to the law “On military service and the status of servicemen”.
Experts on constitutional law are confident that such a general appeal from the president, in fact, cannot prevent the dismissal of the head of the General Staff, since the Constitutional Court will not discuss this specific issue, but the law itself, which allowed the prime minister to regulate the appointment and dismissal of senior command personnel.
Alexander Markarov, director of the Armenian branch of the CIS Institute, believes that in this way the president is trying to express his indirect position on the issue of dismissing the military leader.
– If the Constitutional Court finds out that the decision is constitutional, it will not have grounds for not signing the prime minister’s petition. If the Constitutional Court decides that the law is unconstitutional, then the president can say that the prime minister acted unconstitutionally, the expert explained to Izvestia.
According to Hrant Mikaelyan, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of the Caucasus, the president’s response is an attempt to stall for time. Responsibility for the decision is essentially shifted now, albeit indirectly, to the judges of the Constitutional Court, the political scientist stated.
And who are the judges
The opposition, which has been holding an “unlimited rally” for seven days already, on Baghramyan Avenue, did not accept the president’s decision with incomprehension. The leaders of the Movement for the Salvation of the Motherland demanded that Armen Sargsyan hold an urgent meeting.
Khosrov Harutyunyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia in 1992-1993, leader of the opposition National Democratic Union party, called this step “depressing” by the president in his conversation with Izvestia. But he expressed hope that the head of state will be able to level the situation.
– The President should have applied to the Constitutional Court to clarify how the decision to dismiss the chief of the General Staff is in line with the constitution, – said the politician.
He also stressed that the opposition has concerns about the composition of the Constitutional Court and its neutrality. “But this is a constitutional way, we cannot now question the opinion of this instance without even contacting it,” the ex-prime minister summed up.
According to Hrant Mikaelyan, the president’s appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the 2018 law is part of a deep confrontation between the prime minister and the president.
On March 1, speaking at a rally in front of his supporters, Pashinyan announced that he would hold a referendum in October, at which the country’s residents will have to decide whether to be Armenia and further parliamentary or become a semi-presidential republic.
– With this step, the prime minister is trying to eliminate the president as a body that prevents him from gaining full power in the country. And he wants to solve the issue with a direct mandate received from the population, – the political scientist noted.
On June 3, 2020, amendments to the law on referendum were approved in Armenia, according to which amendments to the Constitution do not have to be carried out through a plebiscite, a decision of the parliament is enough. However, Hrant Mikaelyan specified, not all amendments can be passed through the parliament – the question of the form of government will definitely not pass through this mechanism. Therefore, the prime minister needed a referendum.
Choose soon
Another “head” of the Armenian crisis is early elections, which have been talked about for the fourth month already. On March 1, the leader of the Enlightened Armenia opposition faction, Edmon Marukyan, offered the ruling alliance a memorandum: Pashinyan resigns, the opposition does not offer alternative candidates for his post for 14 days, the parliament is dissolved and new elections are held.
The ruling coalition “My Step”, represented by its head Lilit Makunts, suddenly adopted the opposition’s memorandum. On March 2, Prime Minister Pashinyan announced that on Wednesday he would hold talks with the head of Enlightened Armenia.
– We will insist on holding early elections as soon as possible if it is possible to reach a consensus on the procedure for dissolving parliament. March 8 is a very good date for the prime minister to resign, ”Edmon Marukyan told Izvestia. – If he leaves office on March 8, then the elections can be held at the end of April. This is the most optimal period – do not wait until summer or autumn. After all, a serious situation needs to be resolved now.
The dismissal of the head of the General Staff will also be in the spotlight, the politician noted. According to him, the main condition is for the prime minister to “lag behind the army” and withdraw his decree on the removal of Onik Gasparyan from office.
But on this issue, Nikol Pashinyan took a principled position – at a rally on March 1, he accused the military leader of treason. “Onik jan, you have made a big mistake,” the prime minister is unlikely to want to withdraw his decree after such words.
“My son is in captivity“
There is also a third force in Yerevan, which stands apart from all protest movements. These are the relatives of prisoners of war and missing in the course of the last Karabakh conflict. On March 2, they came in a small group – no more than 20 people – to meet with Nikol Pashinyan.
20 came, although they knew in advance that the prime minister would receive only ten people. “They hoped that he would change his mind,” Gevorg explains to Izvestia, who was going to ask for his son.
– My son is in captivity, and we sent a petition, we are waiting for a response from the Russian peacekeepers to find it. He is only 19 years old, he just went to the army, he was sent to Karabakh. Where he disappeared – we do not know, we are not informed – it is difficult for a man to pronounce these words.
“Do not talk to them, all of a sudden it could harm the search,” Gevorg’s wife, who is standing nearby, is trying to interfere with our conversation. But Gevorg insists that this can help find his son.
– I am grateful to Russia that it is she who is engaged in this matter, and not this (pointing towards the Prime Minister’s residence) the government. And with corpses and prisoners, it gets everyone, – my interlocutor notes.
– Actually, thanks to the Prime Minister too. He does what he can for our captives, for our people. How much he has enough strength, – one of the veterans of the Karabakh war, standing nearby, intervenes in our conversation.
The policeman approaches and advises not to take photographs of the missing. “If they are now in captivity, they may have problems after your publication,” – explains the minister of law and order.
“I will not tell you his name and surname, you know, it will be better for his safety,” one of the women immediately tells Izvestia in front of the government building. Her nephew disappeared in Karabakh, he is 21 years old. She hugs her grandmother, who does not want to consider her grandson “missing” and continues to call him a “prisoner of war”.
Meanwhile, on March 2, searches for the bodies of dead and missing servicemen resumed in the Hadrut region and in the Varanda and Jrakan directions, the Artsakh Ministry of Emergency Situations reported. The searches were stopped on February 15 at the request of the Azerbaijani side. Baku insists that it handed over all the prisoners of war to Yerevan, leaving only the “saboteurs”. The Armenian Foreign Ministry, as well as the EU ombudsman’s office, criticized this statement.
The first meeting of parliament since the beginning of the political crisis, held on March 2 behind closed doors, was also devoted to the return of prisoners of war.
Parents who were not allowed to meet with Pashinyan still stayed with the government. “We hope they will at least say something,” explains one of the interlocutors. “Many have come from Shirak, Syunik, from remote regions of Armenia, just to meet with the prime minister.” And the sight of parents with tear-stained eyes, who hope that their child is alive, is more eloquent than any slogan on Baghramyan Avenue.
Elnar Bainazarov, Yerevan, Polina Guseva