Month: March 2021

People who haven’t served in the army and have thrown dirt at the army are trying to govern us. This is what Colonel-General, former Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Yuri Khachaturov said during today’s rally held by the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan.

“For instance, Pashinyan [Prime Minister of Armenia] says he hasn’t served in the army since his brothers had served before him and he had the opportunity to not serve since he was the third brother. However, Pashinyan is from Yenokavan village and could have come and spent at least a few days at the border checkpoint during vacations. Nobody has seen him. There is someone by the name of Styopik Safaryan. Vazgen Manukyan was serving in office (referring to the position of chairman of the Public Council of Armenia-ed.), but he was replaced by Styopik Safaryan, who says he was 14 when the war broke out. In 1992, he was 19. Why is he lying? He is simply a coward and deserter,” Khachaturov said.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said the following during today’s rally at Republic Square in Yerevan.

“We need to admit once and for all that the Constitution that was adopted in 2015 and entered into force in 2018 proved to have many flaws. I think it’s time to state that we need to work on adopting a new Constitution or constitutional amendments through a nationwide referendum in October, and making the transition to a semi-presidential system of governance needs to be one of the options. This process needs to be carried out through close cooperation with the legislature, government, the President, political forces and civil society. In the course of the next year, we need to modify the articles of the Constitution that can be modified through voting in parliament. The major objective is to create constitutional mechanisms that will guarantee stability and security in Armenia and will exclude the creation of crises,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan also touched upon snap elections and said the following: “I had offered to hold snap parliamentary elections. This was addressed to parliamentary forces, but they declined the offer. Later, I said if the parliamentary forces and the opposition decline the offer, there is no sense in holding snap elections. Now the leader of one of the parliamentary forces says his political party had made the offer a long time ago so that elections wouldn’t be held, meaning this was a formal offer. I officially announce that if the parliamentary forces accept the offer I had made in December 2020, we will agree to go to snap parliamentary elections.”

Touching upon the issue of captives, Pashinyan said the following: “We need to solve many issues, and the major issues are the issues related to our captured brothers and missing servicemen, but I don’t find discussions on these issues too appropriate. Unfortunately, the fact is that the current situation has led to certain problems, but I wouldn’t like to go into details.”

Leader of the opposition Bright Armenia faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Edmon Marukyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“Nikol Pashinyan declared that Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia Onik Gasparyan has fulfilled the order of Serzh Sargsyan by issuing the statement that he issued.

We demand that Nikol Pashinyan immediately publish evidence stating that Onik Gasparyan has fulfilled Serzh Sargsyan’s order.

My proposal for snap elections is still in effect.”

During the rally held at Republic Square in Yerevan, Nikol Pashinyan declared that third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and the former authorities had pushed Onik Gasparyan to make the statement that he made as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Armenia doesn’t have a bad leader, it has been conquered by enemies. This is what Vazgen Manukyan, candidate of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement for Prime Minister of Armenia, said during today’s rally held by the Movement on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue.

“The day Nikol Pashinyan became Prime Minister, I noted that there had to be big turbulence in order to rebuild the country. It was our mistakes that helped the enemy seize Armenia,” he said.

Manukyan touched upon the fact that the President of Armenia has sent the petition to dismiss the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces back to the government. “The President stands firmly, but his strength depends on the opposition’s strength. The stronger we stand, the stronger he and the army will be. Later, the issue will be raised in the Constitutional Court. We need to stand firmly so that the Constitutional Court protects the interests of our nation and army. All Armenians of Armenia need to stand up,” Manukyan said.

Hasmik Gasparyan, daughter of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia Onik Gasparyan, posted the following on her Facebook page:

“Don’t be surprised, if a deserter judges you someday…It’s funny, to say the least, when a group of deserters talk about homeland defenders and refer to them as traitors. As a matter of fact, the tone of voice of those people can be directly compared with the distance between them and the border…I laughed a lot, a lot.”