ARMENIA PM PASHINYAN ANNOUNCES DISMISSAL OF ARMY CHIEF

Wed 10 March 2021:

Armenia’s prime minister on Wednesday nominated a replacement for the country’s sitting chief of general staff, who he earlier declared to be officially dismissed.

According to a statement from premier Nikol Pashinyan’s office, a Feb. 25 decree dismissing Chief of General Staff Onik Gasparyan became legally effective on Wednesday as President Armen Sargsyan had neither signed nor appealed it at the Constitutional Court on time.

“As such, Onik Gasparyan is legally dismissed from his post from March 10,” the statement asserted. Gasparyan, along with other senior commanders, released a statement on Feb 25 calling for Pashinyan’s resignation.

Separately, Pashinyan’s spokesman Mane Gevorkyan on Wednesday announced that the prime minister proposed former Chief of General Staff Artak Davtyan returns to the post.

The official proposal was forwarded to the president, the statement noted.

President Sargsyan on Wednesday appealed to the Constitutional Court to review the legality of Gasparyan’s dismissal, his office said in another statement.

Gasparyan accused Pashinyan of violating the constitution with his dismissal and said on social media he would continue to serve the country and nation.

Meanwhile, President Sarkissian on Wednesday appealed to the constitutional court to review the legality of Gasparyan’s sacking, the president’s office said in a statement.

Pashinyan has faced calls to resign since last November when he agreed to a Russian-brokered ceasefire that halted six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.