On March 1, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan began the rally in front of tens of thousands gathered at Republic Square with the Armenian national anthem and a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the 2nd Artsakh War and March 1. Nikol Pashinyan began his speech by noting the challenges facing Armenia.
March 1, 2021 is being met in Armenia in a situation where the severe consequences of the 2nd Karabakh War are present, the fact of thousands of victims, the issue of the missing, the circumstance of numerous prisoners, the preaching of violence, the process of drawing the armed forces into political processes, the Prime Minister emphasized, noting that all this places the country and the people before new challenges.
In his delivered message, Pashinyan spoke about the dismissal of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Onnik Gasparyan, and the problems it has raised, expressing concern that the former authorities are today trying to turn the army against the people and the government elected by the people. “The Chief of the General Staff who makes political statements must leave, and moreover, he makes that statement at the instigation of Serzh Sargsyan and the previous authorities, the Republicans, who want to drown the popular will under the tracks of tanks as in 2008; the Republic of Armenia cannot have such a Chief of the General Staff.
This circumstance should by no means give rise to vendettas in the Armed Forces; thank God, at this moment, the Armed Forces and Onnik Gasparyan have not crossed red lines, and I want to express my conviction that they will not cross them either, but inevitably, I repeat, Onnik Gasparyan must leave the post of Chief of the General Staff. But I also want to say that in the Armed Forces, yes, there will be no vendettas, because it does not matter who signed that paper and who did not sign it; the decision to put that paper on the table and begin the process of those signatures was made by Onnik Gasparyan at the instigation of Serzh Sargsyan, I do not want to say by his order.”
The head of state also publicly promised to go to early elections in case of the agreement of the priority parliamentary factions, and also spoke about constitutional changes.
Pashinyan noted that the Constitution adopted in 2015, which fully entered into force in 2018, has during this time demonstrated numerous shortcomings.
“And today we also see that this Constitution, unfortunately, creates numerous crisis risks. I think the time has come to note that we must work so that this October we adopt a new Constitution or constitutional changes through a nationwide referendum, and ultimately the transition to a semi-presidential system of government should be one of the possible options. And we must carry out that process in conditions of close cooperation with the National Assembly, the government, the President of the Republic of Armenia, political forces and civil society,” Pashinyan stated.
He added that there are articles in the Constitution whose amendment does not require a nationwide referendum and that can be changed through a vote in the National Assembly. “In the coming month, we must work in the same formats — government, National Assembly, President of the Republic of Armenia, political forces — to improve those articles that can be improved as a result of consultations and voting in the National Assembly. This is work that we must do,” he said.
Nikol Pashinyan also declared that they are ready to go to early parliamentary elections if the proposal is accepted by the parliamentary forces. He added that the readiness to hold elections has one purpose: “No matter how much we participate with slogans, speeches, promises, we will not be seeking our victory in those elections; in those elections we will be seeking your victory, because you must win,” the Prime Minister said.
Pashinyan considered the people’s right to form power to be one of the important achievements. He noted that all the crises that exist must be resolved not at the expense of the people’s constitutional authority, but on the contrary, through the reaffirmation of the people’s power.
“The people’s right to form power must not be endangered by anything, but on the contrary must be strengthened. That is, in the Republic of Armenia only the people must decide who is in power and who is not. The core of our current crisis is precisely this: they want to take the people’s power out of its hands, and we have gathered in the Square to say that we will not allow that,” the Prime Minister said.
During the rally, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia became emotional while speaking about the victims of the 2nd Karabakh War.
“Long live Artsakh, long live the Armenian people, long live our army, our heroic army, our heroic officers, and our victims, their relatives, their mothers, their fathers, their wives and children, I bow before all of you and if you can, forgive us for all our mistakes,” the Prime Minister declared, calling on everyone to turn on the lights of their phones to honor the memory of the victims.
The rally at Republic Square ended with a march. The march led by Nikol Pashinyan proceeded along Mashdots Avenue, Koryun Street, and Abovyan Street.
At the end, the Prime Minister, together with the participants of the march, laid flowers at the statue of Al. Myasnikyan and paid tribute to the memory of the victims.
