Pashinyan denounces top army brass' attempts to engage in politics

YEREVAN, February 25. / ARKA /. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan denounced today the top army brass for trying to engage in politics and come out with political assessments, describing the statement issued by the General Staff of the Armed Forces demanding his and his government's resignation as unacceptable.

In the statement, the General Staff of the Armed Forces condemned Pashinyan's decision to fire the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff  Tiran Khachatrian as imprudent and unjustified 'made without taking into account the national and state interests of the Republic of Armenia.'

“Armenia’s prime minister and government are no longer able to make adequate decisions for the Armenian people in this crisis and fateful situation,” says the  statement signed by Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan, the chief of the army’s General Staff, and many other high-ranking officers.

“The Armenian Armed Forces have long patiently tolerated the incumbent authorities’ ‘attacks’ aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces, but everything has its limits … The incumbent authorities’ inefficient governance and very serious foreign policy mistakes have put the country on the brink of destruction,” the statement says.

"It is unacceptable for the Armed Forces, the army to engage in politics and make political assessments. I do not mean all of our military, most of whom fulfilled the orders of their  superiors, but I want to emphasize that their superiors are also the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister-  and the military are obliged to obey those legal commands that are given by the superior," Pashinyan said in a live Facebook broadcast.

Pashinyan stressed that at the moment, the First Deputy head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Tiran Khachatryan "de jure has been relieved of his job and has no right to speak." He said also that he  has already signed the necessary documents for the dismissal of the head of the General Staff, Onik Gasparyan and set in motion this process.

" I want to thank everyone for their service and express my hope and conviction that we will overcome this situation in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia. We will soon appoint a new head of the General Staff and his first deputy. At the moment, the Minister of Defense has been instructed to perform all his functions, to carry out their official duties and ensure the normal operation of the Armed Forces," he said.

According to him, "we have entered a stage when, unfortunately, it is impossible to avoid questions to some high-ranking military personnel if we want the whole truth about the war to become known."

According to the prime minister, some of the army generals do not like the fact that 'we, society, civil authorities, the government may have questions to them on several episodes. But this is inevitable'.

Pashinyan stressed that as a result of the answers to these questions, something does not necessarily have to happen, but you need to know the answers to a number of questions specifically in connection with the combat and military episodes.

“We need to understand what contacts there were  between some high-ranking officers and some political circles. Who during the war contacted the army and instead of instructing to fight, constantly called for the need to force the government to resign. Not to mention the coup attempt on November 9 when it turned out that there are circles that want to attack high-ranking government officials, to settle scores, so that the whole truth about the war does not come to light, "he said.

The prime minister noted that in connection with these issues, he invited people to Republic Square, urging them to remain calm and not to take any harsh actions.

"I also want to urge all our military to continue to carry out their functions to protect the Motherland, the Republic of Armenia and in no case lose their vigilance. Everything is under control, everything is under the control of our military and there should not be any actions that contradict official processes," he said. -0-