Armenian President Appoints New Army Chief After Months Of Vacancy

Major General Edward Asrian (file photo)

President Vahagn Khachaturian appointed a new chief of the Armenian Army's General Staff, filling a position that has been vacant for nearly five months after a handful of dismissals spearheaded by the prime minister.

The appointment of Major General Edward Asrian was announced just over a week after Armenia's parliament approved a government bill that made the country’s top general directly subordinate to the defense minister.

Asrian was the choice of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the top army job.

The previous army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Artak Davtian, and six other senior generals were fired in February through presidential decrees also initiated by Pashinian.

The sackings came one year after Davtian’s predecessor, Onik Gasparian, and 40 other high-ranking officers issued a joint statement accusing Pashinian’s government of incompetence and misrule and demanding its resignation.

Asrian was among the signatories of the February 2021 statement welcomed by the Armenian opposition but condemned by Pashinian as a coup attempt.

Some pro-government lawmakers have acknowledged that Pashinian’s administration hopes a bill passed by the National Assembly on July 7 will prevent the army top brass from challenging them in the future.

Under the bill criticized by the opposition, the chief of the General Staff will also hold the post of first deputy defense minister, although he won't assume ministerial duties in the case of the defense minister's absence.

Pashinian promised a major reform of the military shortly after Armenia’s defeat in the intense flare-up of its decades-old war with Azerbaijan in 2020.

He has replaced three defense ministers since a Russian-brokered cease-fire ended the six weeks of hostilities in November 2020.

Opposition forces blame Pashinian for the disastrous fighting that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead and say his administration is doing little to rebuild the armed forces.