Frequent changes in the military’s top brass was one of the factors that contributed to Armenia’s defeat in the recent 44-day war in Artsakh, former Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters on Tuesday.
He cited the replacement of Armenia’s defense minister, Genera Staff chief, as well as the commander of the Artsakh Defense Army in recent years.
The ex-minister stated people “lacking good understanding of the situation and experience" presumably failed to draw the right conclusions and made right decisions while working with the country's leadership during the war.
He believes the dismissal of Movses Hakobyan and Levon Mnatsakanyan as General Staff chief and Defense Army commander, respectively, as well as the structural changes and reduction of the number of military units in some areas, had a very negative impact on the course of the military operations.
Ohanyan accused the current authorities of politicizing the General Staff and making it part of the political team. He denounced the “arbitrary” dismissal of First Deputy Chief of the General Staff Tiran Khachatryan and later Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Ohanyan noted that by his statement demanding the resignation of Pashinyan and his cabinet, Onik Gasparyan properly assessed the situation and wanted to stand with the people, adding the majority of the people demand that the “defeated” authorities step down.
The former defense minister found it hard to say whether the army would suffer or benefit from the appointment of Artak Davtyan as new General Staff chief.
"The newly appointed chief of the General Staff was fired by the same prime minister some time ago due to certain violations. I think that the Armenian army is a structure that can get out of a difficult situation rapidly. For that, it is necessary to set up an interdepartmental commission. There is the basis needed for working at full speed," he added.