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MP Edmon Marukyan from the opposition Bright Armenia Party on Thursday called on President Armen Sarkissian not to sign Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decree to dismiss Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan.

The Armenian premier sacked Gasparyan shortly after the army’s top brass demanded his and his government’s resignation in a statement earlier on Thursday. The statement came after the PM's decision to dismiss Gasparyan’s first deputy, Tiran Khacharyan.

“The recent moves of the prime minister were aimed at decapitating the already worn out army by dismissing the generals of the General Staff, which is absolutely unacceptable in post-war Armenia,” Marukyan wrote on Facebook.

“I urge President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian not to sign Nikol Pashinyan's decree, to preserve the Armenian Armed Forces together with its generals, who now need the support of all of us in restoring the army,” the lawmaker said.