Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a spokesman for the opposition Movement to Save the Motherland, which unites political forces demanding the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, said on Saturday that President Armen Sarkissian had requested a meeting with the opposition on March 7.
Another political crisis erupted in Yerevan after Pashinyan’s careless words about the Russian Iskanders. According to media reports, the deputy chief of the general staff of Armenia ridiculed the prime minister, for which he was dismissed, following him the chief of the general staff was offered to resign. The Armed Forces of Armenia issued a statement in which they demanded the resignation of Pashinyan himself. The prime minister regarded this as an attempted coup and called on his supporters to take to the streets. Meanwhile, the opposition has erected barricades and set up a campground near the parliament, they are not in the mood for negotiations with the authorities and are demanding the resignation of the prime minister.
b”We were informed that the president requested another meeting with the leaders of the movement”, – Saghatelyan said.
According to him, during the previous meeting, the opposition presented its positions and received assurances that the issue of the resignation of the Chief of the General Staff will be sent to the Constitutional Court.
“We do not yet have a final answer, we have a deadline until Monday. The President is obliged to appeal to the Constitutional Court, otherwise he will bear personal responsibility for the situation in the country and further consequences”, – he said. The politician also called on the chief of staff not to leave his post.
Earlier, the president refused to sign a decree on the dismissal of the chief of the General Staff and did not send the draft decree to the Constitutional Court, which implies an automatic resignation. As stated in the presidential press service, Sargsyan challenged in the Constitutional Court not the draft decree itself, but the provisions of the law “On military service and the status of servicemen,” regulating personnel issues in the Armed Forces.