Yerevan: Armenia’s president urged the government to step down and argued that new elections should be held within a year at the latest and an interim government of national accord should be formed, preferably a technocratic one.
Armen Sarkissian also criticized the Armenian government during his meeting with representatives of the Armenian community in Russia.
He described Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s signing of a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the withdrawal of Armenians from Karabakh as a “great tragedy.”
“There is a solution in any country where such a great tragedy has occurred. The government that led to this has to go,” he said.
Sarkissian had previously said he was not involved in the process of signing a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended the decadeslong Nagorno-Karabakh crisis.
He said he learned about the deal over the news and that he had not been consulted before Pashinian “painfully” agreed to sign the deal.
The Armenian president said the decision should have been made after a period of consultation and debate, as the issue is extremely important for the country.
He pointed out that the situation in Armenia was very different from two years ago when elections were held and proposed the establishment of a provisional national unity government and early elections.
Suggesting that a technocratic government be established on which all parties will agree, Sarkissian said this government could work for six months or a one-year period and lead the country to early elections. –PNP
