Armenian President Armen Sarkissian resigned today after nearly four years as Armenia’s head of state.

Sarkissian, in a statement, said the office has no real power and lacks effective tools to implement checks and balances given the current constitutional makeup.

Sarkissian lamented the fact that the office of president cannot veto the laws that he considers inexpedient for the state and the people and is unable to use his potential to solve systemic domestic and foreign policy problems.

He also wrote that as head of state he and his family were targeted by “various political forces” and that his mental health had been affected.

 “We have a paradoxical situation when the president must be a guarantor of statehood without actually having any real tool. The constitution also presupposes the supremacy of one institution over another, creates obstacles for well-known Diaspora specialists to participate in the management of state institutions of the historical Homeland, and so on,” Sarkissian wrote.

“I am glad that a commission for constitutional amendments has been set up, for which I thank the government. I hope that eventually the constitutional changes will take place, the next president and the presidential institution will be able to work in a more balanced, coordinated environment,” Sarkissian continued.

Sarkissian assumed the presidency in April 2018, following the “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia.

(Read Armen Sarkissian full resignation statement HERE)