Armen Sarkisian lamented not being able to veto “laws that he considers inconvenient for his people and the State” in these “complex times” for his country.
The president of Armenia, Armen Sarkisian, announced his resignation on Sunday for lacking the power to influence the country’s domestic and foreign policy.
“We are living in a reality (…) in which the president cannot veto laws that he considers inconvenient for his people and the state,” Sarkisian, appointed by Parliament in March 2018, said in a message posted on the website of the Armenian Presidency.
The resignation of the president, 68 years old, comes amid tensions with the government led by the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, whom Sargsyan urged to leave power after the country’s defeat in the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan.
“I have thought about it a lot and after four years of intense work I have made the decision to leave the post of head of state,” Sarkisián said.
The politician indicated that his decision “is not emotional” and it is related to the lack of tools to influence the destinies of the country in “complex times” for its people.
“Today, more than ever, we need to take well thought out steps (…). We have no right to make mistakes again,” said Sarkisian, who criticized that the Armenian president lacks constitutional powers to “help his country”, turned into a parliamentary republic after a referendum in 2015.
In statements to Efe, the director of the Caucasus Institute, Aleksandr Iskandarián, pointed out that Sarkisián’s resignation is a reflection of the “growing division in the political elites” of Armenia after the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020.
The conflict, in which Azerbaijan prevailed with the active help of Turkey, meant for Armenia the loss of almost 70 percent of the territories it controlled in the region since the end of the 1992-1994 war.
“Relations between the president of Armenia and the prime minister, Nikol Pashinian, have not been good for a long time. There is also a great division in Parliament,” Iskandarian explained.
However, he stressed that Sarkisian’s resignation took many by surprise. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
