“The situation surrounding the General Staff is ridiculous since the government did not implement the court’s decision,” the former Minister of Justice, Arpine Hovhannisyan, said during a meeting with reporters at the Hayeli press club.
On March 17th, the Administrative Court of Armenia upheld Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan’s representative’s mediation, according to which Gasparyan will continue to hold his position until the court makes its final decision. However, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appointed Artak Davtyan to be the chief of the General Staff.
Arpine Hovhannisyan not only considers the situation surrounding the General Staff to be nonsense, but unprecedented ‘legal cowardice,’ unconstitutional, and illegal. According to her, we are not only dealing with a legal issue here. We are dealing with a crisis of values and narcissism in this country connected to its generals. “This is a legal, political, and constitutional-moral crisis.”
Arpine Hovhannisyan said that there is a law against this since the administrative court judge Mher Petrosyan, who tried Onik Gasparyan’s case, did not deny that the National Security Service visited him. Arpine Hovhannisyan is concerned about the fact that the general prosecutor is silent. Regarding this, she said, “Where is the criminal case so that representatives of the NSS can be brought in? They can essentially ask, dear NSS, at least tell us a story, shouldn’t there be a case where you provide testimony on why you went to sit in the judge’s reception room? Where are the opinions of other judges or the Supreme Judicial Council members? Why does everyone hold a conventional, fearful attitude? Considering this attitude, it is logical that Nikol Pashinyan was the commander-in-chief of those generals.”
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Arpine Hovhannisyan asked why the military demanded Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation. “I also demand it, political parties also demand it, and we are all making more influential and balanced statements than generals? What are they doing? They accepted his position and are thinking about how the important part is that they don’t get in trouble and they continue to wear their uniforms.”
Arpine Hovhannisyan is surprised by the logic Artak Davtyan used to accept the position.
Arpine Hovhannisyan painfully noted that we are deeply disappointed, and continued, “The greatest myth in the history of the newly independent Armenia was disproven. I am referring to the honor of the generals and the army. First of all, they devalued the honor of the officers. The sad part is that we have such generals, including Onik Gasparyan. There are rumors that Onik Gasparyan and other generals did not make that statement because their patience was up and their honor awakened, but I think that these people made that statement in order to defend themselves since Nikol Pashinyan has a tendency to avoid responsibility and never take burdens upon himself. He is doing that now. The army understood that he needs to take responsibility.”
Tatev Harutyunyan
