On 10 March, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan petitioned President Armen Sarkissian to appoint Artak Davtyan as chief of the general staff of the armed forces instead of Onik Gasparyan. 

Pashinyan argued in a Facebook post that the government's decree that says that the dismissal of Onik Gasparyan is now legally effective as the president had not signed the decree within the given timeframe and had not asked the Constitutional Court to verify the constitutionality of his decree. It should be noted that on 9 March, it emerged that Armenia’s Defence Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan appointed Artak Davtyan as senior officer on special assignments. Artak Davtyan, who was earlier appointed by Pashinyan as chief of general staff of Armenia's armed forces, was sacked last summer because of hosting his son’s wedding party despite the state of emergency enacted to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The same argument as Pashinyan’s was presented by the chairman of the Armenian Chamber of Lawyers Ara Zohrabyan. “Sadly, the president selected the adventure path. As a citizen and lawyer, together with my partners, from tomorrow we will start the process of revealing the president's fears,” Zohrabyan wrote. “At present, the issue of dismissing Lieutenant General Onik Gasparyan is within the competence and discretion of the prime minister both from the point of view of legal procedures and from the point of view of constitutional responsibility and political consequences,” he added.  

Sarkissian has now three days left to respond to Pashinyan’s motion. He already applied to the Constitutional Court (CC) on deciding the constitutionality of law on military service and status of military. “The appeal to the Constitutional Court is due to existing problems in the law enforcement practice of this law, which became obvious as as result of the prime minister’s initiative to relieve the head of the Supreme Court and subsequent constitutional legal processes,” the president’s press service reported. It also stated that the CC ruling may have a serious influence on the already adopted decisions, on the existing and future processes in the context of interpretation of law.

As for Gasparyan, he stated that his dismissal runs counter to the country's constitution. “My position has not changed: both the government statement on my dismissal and the entire dismissal process are unconstitutional, which once again confirm that a patriotic solution to the current crisis can be ensured only as a result of the resignation of the prime minister and early parliamentary elections,” he said. However, Gasparyan added that he will continue working in a “different status.” “Dear generals, officers and soldiers, the exclusive mission of the armed forces is to ensure the security of the homeland, therefore I urge you to continue your selfless, patriotic service exclusively to the Motherland and people in the name of the development of the armed forces and the strengthening of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,” he added.

The country’s general staff of the armed forces issued a statement, noting that they join the message of Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan and confirming the assessments given by now to the situation existing in the republic. “There is one solution to the existing situation – it is mentioned in the message [Pashinyan’s resignation]. Only capable people are able to value the deprivations and difficulties overcome by each military appointed to the highest military commandership posts. The armed forces takes the call of chief of the general staff of the Armenian armed forces, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan made in his 10/03/2021 message as an assignment,” the statement said.

The opposition in Armenia started mass protests in the capital of Yerevan, following the latest developments in the Pashinyan-Gasparyan standoff. The protesters (led by the Homeland Salvation Movement) erected tents in front of the entrances to the parliament building in order to stop the Armenian parliamentarians from entering the building. It was also reported that a large number of police buses were parked near Pashinyan’s government mansion to contain the explosive situation in the country. 

Speaking in front of the journalist’s, the leader of the Homeland Salvation Movement Vazgen Manukyan stated that Gasparyan’s decision was not a result of pressure. “Naturally, they [the ruling forces] spoke with him, told a thousand things, but I don’t explain his decisions as a result of pressure. As a law-abiding military he made decisions [that are guided by] the law,” he said. Manukyan also said that he would arrest Pashinyan if he were chief of the staff of the armed forces. “We have a very bad and dangerous prime minister for the country, there is no president. Pashinyan will continue to destroy the armed forces and whether this plan succeeds or not depends on the new head of the army's staff. I have nothing to negotiate with Pashinyan. I  consider early parliamentary elections offered by Pashinyan to be absurd. The elections will not only be rigged, but it will turn out that Pashinyan will get away with everything,” he added. It should be noted that a day earlier, Manukyan called for a revolutionary scenario in the country. “At any moment, it could be today, one week later or ten days later, we must be ready for revolting and taking power at lightning speed,” he stated.

The parliamentary opposition parties Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright Armenia (LHK) also expressed their discontent with the latest developments. “I think any military [official who respects] himself will not accept Nikol Pashinyan’s proposal to become chief of the general staff, seeing in what shameful way the authorities saw a concrete revenge with Onik Gasparyan,” stated the BHK deputy Iveta Tonoyan. The LHK leader Edmon Marukyan stated that he would not sign the memorandum with the country’s authorities on snap elections (Caucasus Watch reported) after these developments. However, the leader of ruling My Step faction Lillit Makunts emphasised that consultations with parliament-represented parties on the possibility of holding early parliamentary elections in Armenia would continue. She added that Gasparyan’s dismissal and the early elections were not interconnected and therefore should be considered separately. 

The recent developments in Armenia had also alarmed the officials in Moscow, who publicly expressed their concerns in regard to the situation but added that it wouldn’t interfere in Armenia’s internal affairs. “We regard the situation in Armenia as an internal matter of that country. We do not interfere in these processes that are taking place there, and we do not take sides. We want the situation to normalise as fast as possible, since it will be to the benefit of everyone,” stated Russia’s deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, expressing his hopes that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh would not escalate due to the internal developments in Armenia.