Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan is ready to resign at the earliest opportunity; he personally announced this today in a message published on December 16, noting that he will take this step when Artsakh is ready for new elections.
“At the earliest possible moment I will lay down my presidential powers, and within a reasonable timeframe early nationwide elections will be organized in Artsakh, in which I will not stand and will leave politics,” said Harutyunyan.
As for why he did not resign immediately after the war, the Artsakh president cited several reasons, including the fact that a proper environment for early elections had not been formed, that it was not the time for internal political struggle, and that he does not shirk his responsibility during this difficult period. Harutyunyan also announced that he has decided to resign from the post of chairman of the ruling “Free Homeland” party of Artsakh and to leave the party, so that, as he put it, “in the office of president he can act and be perceived as the non-partisan head of state.”
Arayik Harutyunyan, elected president in April of this year, also stated today that henceforth he is prepared to make the decisions vested in him by the Constitution jointly with the National Assembly, the Security Council and broader public-political circles. Moreover, informing that the composition of the Security Council headed by Vitaly Balasanyan will be expanded, Harutyunyan explained that all his decrees and government decisions concerning the defense and security of Artsakh will be adopted exclusively with the positive conclusion of the Security Council.
“In general, the conduct of public discussions must become an organic part of our political culture and governance system,” noted Arayik Harutyunyan.
The Artsakh president emphasized that he bears responsibility for the created situation, but noted that one must distinguish the wet from the dry: “If by the Constitution the President of the Republic is the guarantor of the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Artsakh, did I have sufficient internal and external opportunities and levers to fully guarantee the aforementioned four values in this large-scale war, and did I not do the maximum that depended on me in that direction? Or if by the Constitution the President of the Republic is the supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces, then for whom is it a secret how and from where the Defense Army is actually managed, and to what extent the President of the Republic of Artsakh is involved in those processes.”
