During the crisis, the main issue for the Armenian opposition was the expected resignation of the head of the country's General Staff, Onik Gasparyan.

Earlier, the chief of the General Staff and several generals published a letter in which they demanded that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan leave his post.

In response, Pashinyan issued an order to dismiss Gasparyan himself.

Mass rallies for and against the current government immediately gathered in Yerevan.

Without the signature of the country's President Armen Sarkissian, the order to dismiss the opposition general cannot immediately enter into force.

On the eve of Friday, opposition leaders met with the president to win him over to their side.

After the meeting, RT talked with one of its main participants Vazgen Manukyan, whom the Movement to Save the Motherland nominated as a single candidate for the post of head of the transitional government after the alleged resignation of the current prime minister.

- Do you think the president will sign a resignation order?

We presented our position to him, but he has not yet made a final decision and is now meeting with the chief of staff [the

interview was recorded on Friday, February 26 - RT

].

From a legal point of view, the order of the prime minister is definitely illegal because it does not comply with the constitution.

It says that the chief of staff is appointed for a certain time, and at this time he cannot be dismissed, only if he has not committed a criminal offense.

This term is five years.

And he has been in office for only a year.

That is, for another four years he cannot be fired.

The political component is that the letter was signed not only by the chief of staff, but also by all the chiefs of the corps, and almost the entire military elite.

That is, it is not only about Onik Gasparyan, but about the military command.

We suggested that he should not sign, but send back.

In this case, if Pashinyan repeatedly appeals to the president with a request for the resignation of the head of the general staff, the president may send the order of dismissal to the Constitutional Court to verify its legality.

  • Nikol Pashinyan is among his supporters.

    Yerevan, February 25

  • Reuters

  • © Artem Mikryukov

The President said that he would accept the military and then make a decision, but as far as I understand, he will not sign anyway.



- Before this letter, were there any complaints from the military against the country's political leadership?

For example, during the recent military conflict with Azerbaijan?



Contradictions between Nikol Pashinyan and the headquarters were throughout the conflict.

For example, there was an operation that Pashinyan, as commander-in-chief, ordered to be carried out, but the chief of staff and several generals in Artsakh believed that it was a stupid operation.

And it really failed. 

There were issues of supplying the army, organizational issues, contradictions were growing all the time.

And the last thing that he fired the Deputy Chief of the General Staff "for the Iskander", and by this very conversation about the Iskander, he apparently overflowed the cup of patience.

- According to your version, why is this rather strange statement about the Iskander?

There are two explanations here.

Knowing his character and his policy, I can say that he always wants to justify himself and throw off all the mistakes on the previous ones.

The Iskanders were bought during the time of Serzh Sargsyan [the

former head of the Armenian government, - RT

].

Sargsyan was very proud that he was able to get this weapon.

Indeed, he could be proud of him, and he wanted to belittle Sargsyan's role and at the same time justify himself by announcing that the Iskanders were not working.

Another explanation is that it was an order from the outside directed against Russia, and he was ordered or asked to make this statement.

Which of these points of view is correct?

In both cases, the result is the same - it is a big blow to our relations with Russia.

Because one of the first questions that the new government must face is the restoration of the army.

And it is impossible to resolve this issue without Russia.

When a minister constantly “hits” a country, the country begins to think that this is not the opinion of one person, but of the whole of Armenia.

- In your opinion, to what extent have the forces within this protest already decided on their positions?



The question with the army still remained, because the army offered its own version: Nikol Pashinyan must leave.

Nikol Pashinyan made his move.

Now the continuation depends on how actively the army will defend its interests.



- Is this a coup of the "top" or the demand of the majority of people, do you think?



Depends on what you mean.

The opinion of the army, of course, is the opinion of the military leadership.

Nobody will listen to the opinion of a soldier, it is always the opinion of the leadership.

If you are talking about the people, then most of the people - 80 percent - are unhappy with Nikol Pashinyan.

Apparently, most of them believe that he should resign.

But at another time there would have been 100 or 200 thousand people ...

- When did Pashinyan come to power?



Pashinyan came to power at a good time for the people.

The people were well fed, shod and wanted a better life.

And now the people are defeated, we have just lost the war, most of the people are in depression.

Tens of thousands of families have lost their sons, husbands, there are still many missing people, prisoners.

In this situation, no movement can evoke inspiration.

For the most part, people sit at home, watch TV or Facebook and sympathize, but they have no will to go out - they don't believe.

Many people have simply stopped believing in the future of the country and are preparing to emigrate.

  • Opposition rally participants move towards the building of the prosecutor's office in Yerevan

  • © Asatur Yesayants



- If Pashinyan does not resign himself, as the military demands, what will happen next?

Are there enough MPs in parliament to impeach him?



No, the majority in parliament is his party.

And therefore, his party is being processed now, there are a lot of people in this party who do not agree with Nikol Pashinyan, but they do not want to violate party ethics.

Some of them have compromising evidence, some are bribed, they just read my letter to these deputies, his factions.

I write that they, too, are at a dead end, but we must try to get out of it.

Nikol Pashinyan will leave anyway, and a black spot will remain from him in our history, do not take this sin upon yourself.

- Today the party "My Step" again did not come to the meeting.

Is this done in order not to take responsibility in the current situation?

An extraordinary session is due now, which the opposition has gathered.

Thirty votes is enough.

One question is raised at this session - to abolish the martial law in Armenia.

Because the issue of the resignation of the Prime Minister, according to the law, cannot be resolved during martial law. 

Pashinyan now has two pillars on which his power rests - his faction, which the people are now trying to process, and the police, but the police have been very restrained over the past few days.

Apparently, the army's statement had an effect on her as well.



- If the chief of the General Staff is not dismissed, will it make an impression on the deputies of his faction?



I think yes, because Nikol is doing everything to dismiss the chief of the General Staff.

If he stays, it means that Nichol has lost, and in politics any failure leads to the fact that your supporters begin to doubt you.