YEREVAN. March 2 (Interfax) - The Armenian opposition is demanding an urgent meeting with Armenian President Armen Sarkissian in connection with his stance on Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff Onik Gasparyan.
"The Homeland Salvation Movement is concerned about the Armenian president's position on the dismissal of Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff Onik Gasparyan. In his statement, the president avoids the issue of challenging [Armenian Prime Minister] Nikol Pashinyan's relevant decision in the Constitutional Court. Proceeding from this, we demand an urgent meeting with the Armenian president," a statement put out by the Homeland Salvation Movement on Tuesday said.
As reported earlier, Sarkissian decided on Tuesday not to sign Prime Minister Pashinyan's request to dismiss Gasparyan as chief of the Armed Forces General Staff.
This was Pashinyan's second request to have Gasparyan discharged.
Sarkissian has appealed to the Constitutional Court.
"The president of Armenia has appealed to the Constitutional Court to ask it to review the constitutionality of the law On Military Service and Status of a Military Service Member of November 15, 2017," the presidential press service said.
Tensions in Armenia began escalating on February 25, after the Armenian General Staff issued a statement demanding Pashinyan's resignation. The statement was released after Sarkissian signed a decree on February 24 dismissing Tigran Khachatryan as first deputy chief of the Armenian General Staff. Khachatryan was dismissed at Pashinyan's proposal, the press service said.
Earlier, Khachatryan cast into doubt Pashinyan's statement that "Iskander [missiles] did not detonate, or did so by only ten percent," during the Nagorno-Karabakh hostilities.
On February 25, Pashinyan forwarded a request to the president to discharge Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff Gasparyan, but Sarkissian refused to sign a relevant decree and returned the request to the government.
On February 28, the presidential office received another request from Pashinyan on dismissing Gasparyan.