By decision of the Armavir regional governor, Karine Smbatyan has been dismissed from her position as director of a school in Sardarapat for refusing to remove the Artsakh flag from the Corner of Glory, she announced on Facebook.

She said the grounds for her dismissal, formulated as a “loss of trust,” are unfounded and arbitrary.

“After all the effort and dedication, I consider the stated grounds for my dismissal — ‘loss of trust’ — to be unjustified and arbitrary. It is insulting not only to me, but to the years of work of our entire staff, which we carried out even under difficult building conditions,” she wrote.

In another post, she added: “A position is temporary, the homeland is eternal.”

“Today I no longer hold the position of school director, but I will never cease to be an Armenian educator and officer in my soul. My removal is a small price for what I believe in and serve. I cannot remain silent when the spiritual and patriotic values of our students are under threat.

…Mr. Governor, you may remove me from my post, but you cannot remove patriotism from my heart. You may order the flag to be taken down, but you cannot erase the signatures of our heroes from our souls,” she stated.

Smbatyan also announced that she has joined the Strong Armenia team, saying that the country today “needs struggle for values and for the future of our children as much as air and water.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia should not continue the Karabakh movement, noting that peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan and that both countries have recognized each other’s territorial integrity, political independence, and sovereignty based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration.