Opposition issues demand for Pashinyan's resignation

PanARMENIAN.Net - The opposition Armenia bloc has published a demand for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation.

The text of the Resistance Movement's demand was made public by Deputy parliament speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan during a rally on Wednesday, May 4, while lawmaker Armen Rustamyan read the document during a Q&A session with Pashinyan at the National Assembly.

According to the opposition, Pashinyan has failed to defend the Armenian interests in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process, bringing war and defeat to the nation.

"[Pashinyan] has admitted that he could have avoided war and casualties, but he did not. In June 2021, he promised to return the captives, but we still have prisoners of war [in Azerbaijan]," the document says.

The Prime Minister was also accused of deviating from the path of pursuing a final status of Artsakh (Karabakh) through the full realization of the right to self-determination.

Supporters of the opposition blocs "I Have Honor" and "Armenia" have taken to the streets for several days now to demand Pashinyan's resignation. Several hundred people have been detained in the past couple of days.

Pashinyan himself staged a massive disobedience campaign back in the spring of 2018 and removed then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan who had been in power for 10 years. The PM, however, came under fire after signing a statement with the Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh almost 45 days after the start of the military hostilities. Under the deal, the Armenian side was forced to cede all the regions surrounding Karabakh to Azerbaijan, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.