The Armed Forces General Staff’s demand for the resignation of the incumbent government of Armenia was a signal that the government is hindering the strengthening and restoration of the army. Moreover, it hinders at the systemic level. Second president Robert Kocharyan expressed such an opinion at Thursday’s press conference for Russian media, Sputnik-Armenia reports.

According to him, after the scandalous story on the Russian-made Iskander missile system, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should apologize to the army General Staff, and personally to Tiran Khachatryan—now former First Deputy Chief of the General Staff. But instead, Pashinyan dismissed Khachatryan from office.

Commenting on the Armenian side’s defeat in the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war, Kocharyan stressed that one of the reasons was the attacks on the army. "Attacks on the army, the generals, were following each other, repeating regularly for three years," he said.

According to Kocharyan, this is one of the reasons for the defeat in the war, and the steps of the government must be foreseeable and comprehensible. "It is impossible to govern a country with such a regime. The case of the General Staff proves the hopeless situation in the country," Kocharyan added.

Touching upon the matter of dismissal of the chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, the former president explained that incumbent President Armen Sarkissian has three options to act within the framework of the Constitution. "The first option is that the President agrees with Pashinyan's proposal [to dismiss Gasparyan] and signs it. And the second, the President does not sign the decree, but it enters into force. The third, he tries to find a solution in the legal field," Kocharyan said.

According to him, it turns out that the President agrees with the decision of the prime minister, in the case of the first two options. However, Robert Kocharyan believes that the President should decide whether he is for or against, and that there are no obstacles for the President to express his clear point of view on this matter.