PM Pashinyan introduces newly appointed Chief of General Staff to highest Army command

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Ministry of Defense today to introduce the newly appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Artak Davtyan to the highest command of the Armed Forces.

Today we have gathered to introduce Lieutenant General Artak Davtyan as the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. Of course, there is no news, because we have all known for a long time that Mr. Davtyan will replace Onik Gasparyan as the Chief of the General Staff, but due to the peculiarities of our legislation we had to wait for some time,” the Prime Minister said.

“You all know that Mr. Davtyan resigned from the post of Chief of General Staff for reasons unrelated to the service; I must state that we have been in constant contact with Mr. Davtyan during this time and it was clear that we must use his potential and involve him in our state affairs,” Pashinyan added.

“During this time Mr. Davtyan assumed the duties of the chairman of the Military-Industrial Committee, and during the war I invited him to Syunik to organize the self-defense of Syunik. I mean, Mr. Davtyan has always been involved during this period, in fact, he has not been cut off from state affairs. I am confident that he will continue his mission at the same high level. Of course, the mission is not easy, we are living in extremely difficult times, the problems are more than serious. Problem one: to protect the army, to protect the Armed Forces; problem two: to make the necessary reforms in the Armed Forces, which will strengthen first of all the Armed Forces, the level of protection of Armenia’s external security, and, of course, the trust of all of us in the Armed Forces and our security system,” he stated.

The Prime Minister noted that the events “from February to this day are understandable in many respects,” but stressed that the need to keep the depoliticization of the Armed Forces.

“The Armed Forces should not look back at all. It’s a different issue that the government should ensure the normal functioning of the Armed Forces, we all must ensure it especially in the current situation. The Armed Forces, no matter how strange it may sound, should feel protected,” Pashinyan said.

Artak Davtyan thanked the Prime Minister for the trust. “Of course, we follow the instructions given. I am sure that the Armed Forces will not take part in any political process, which is not provided by the Constitution or laws,.”

At the same time, he thanked Onik Gasparyan for his leadership during the war, as well as General Galstyan for fulfilling his responsibilities during this period. “We hope that with joint efforts we will be able to solve all the problems that the Armed Forces currently face.”

Summing up, Prime Minister Pashinyan thanked Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan for his services. “Thank you all, because we think we have gone through a really difficult, difficult period.”

Source: Public Radio of Armenia