Monday, March 1 2021 14:23

ArmInfo. Obviously, the army must  be torn away from the circle of conspirators. The armed forces must  be kept within the framework of the Constitution and laws, completely  excluding even the prospect of involving the army in politics. The  Chairman of the Public Council of Armenia Stepan Safaryan expressed a  similar opinion to ArmInfo.

On February 25, the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces  demanded the resignation of the Armenian Prime Minister, accusing the  country's political leadership of "leading the state to a dangerous  brink." The demand was announced after the dismissal of the first  deputy chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Tiran  Khachatryan.

"Obviously, in the case of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the  same technology was applied that had recently been applied to the  Public Council. The same people, in particular, tried to raise our  organization against the government. After which I was forced to  explain to some of my colleagues that regardless of their attitude to  the government, the discussion of the formation of power in the  Public Council, a body that is prohibited from engaging in internal  politics, is unacceptable. After the Public Council's official  statement on the situation, this issue was finally closed, "he said.

Safaryan noted that 19 military officers from the General Staff of  the Armed Forces issued a statement that obviously contradicts the  Constitution and touched upon the formation of political power. The  analyst is convinced that the army has no authority to form a  government instead of the people. If there are people in the army who  do not want to serve the current political power, they can resign.  And the information they have about threats to the national security  of the country, if there are such, of course, should be submitted to  the Security Council.

According to Safaryan's estimates, the statement of the officers of  the General Staff was of an unprecedented nature and was aimed at  bringing what was begun by the hands of 19 military leaders to the  second actor of this action - the people. The action, the purpose of  which is to transform the army into one of the internal political  poles, to separate society from the army and to link the military to  17, in his opinion, is apparently an attempt at a military coup.

Safaryan considers the situation in which 19 military personnel of  the General Staff of the Armed Forces for 5 days have actually been  outside the framework of the Constitution, unacceptable. The analyst  sees the search for a way out of the current internal political  situation in timely flexible and in no way abrupt and tough actions.  He sees a solution to the problem of 19 military men only within the  framework of the law, not excluding in some cases their immediate  resignation.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described the situation as an  attempted coup, urging citizens to gather in Republic Square and  defend the revolution. Pashinyan signed a decision on the resignation  of Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, which the president has  not yet signed. After that, a rally in support of Pashinyan took  place on Republic Square. In parallel, a rally of opponents of the  current government took place on Freedom Square. Similarly,  practically at the same time, the authorities and the opposition will  hold rallies today - March 1.