President Armen Sarkissian (left) and Armenia’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan
President Armen Sarkissian on Tuesday again did not sign a request by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan firing the Chief of Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan, who on Thursday called for Pashinyan’s resignation. Instead, the president’s office said that he would refer the matter to Armenia’s Constitutional Court.
Soon after Gasparyan and 40 other high-ranking military officials called for Pashinyan’s resignation last week, the prime minister sent a decree to Sarkissian relieving Gasparyan from his duties.
On Saturday, Sarkissian refused to sign the decree questioning its constitutionality and drive Armenia deeper into a domestic crisis, which has been brewing since Pashinyan signed the November 9 agreement that ended military actions in Karabakh, but surrendered territories in Artsakh and Armenia to Azerbaijan.
At His Own Rally, Pashinyan Again Backtracks on Snap Elections
Homeland Salvation Movement activists, who have been blocking Baghramyan Street for days, were joined by thousands of other protesters on Monday, when the movement held a rally in support of the Armenian Armed Forces under the banner of “Nation, Army, Victory.”
Minutes later, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whose resignation the Homeland Salvation Movement is demanding, held his own rally at Republic Square, where he told his supporters that he would call snap parliamentary elections if the parliamentary opposition agreed to it. This was another u-turn by the prime minister who weeks ago announced that snap elections were not necessary because there wasn’t enough popular support for them, at that time, backtracking from a pledge he had made in December to consult with all political factions and schedule snap polls.
President Meets Homeland Salvation Movement Leaders as Protests Continue asbarez.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asbarez.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.