YEREVAN, Armenia – The Prime Minister of Armenia spoke of an attempted military coup on Thursday after army general staff demanded he resign after months of protests sparked by the country’s defeat in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan .
The General Staff issued a statement calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which was signed by senior military officers. The move was prompted by Pashinyan’s decision earlier this week to oust the first Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
Pashinyan described the military’s statement as an “attempted military coup” and ordered the firing of the Chief of the General Staff. He urged the military to only heed his orders and called on his supporters to take to the streets to support him.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES THE NEW ARMENIA-AZERBAAN CONFLICT-CEASEFIRE MADE BY US
Meanwhile, crowds of opposition protesters swarmed the streets of the Armenian capital, shouting “Nikol, you traitor!” and “Nikol, quit your job!”
Opposition supporters blocked the streets around Yerevan and paralyzed traffic throughout the capital.
The rapid developments came after Armenia saw a spike in demonstrations this week demanding Pashinyan step down.
The protests calling for Pashinyan’s resignation began immediately after he signed the November 10 peace agreement, which put Azerbaijan back in control of large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. The Russian-brokered agreement ended 44 days of fierce fighting in which the Azerbaijani army forced Armenian troops to flee.
Pashinyan has defended the peace agreement as a painful but necessary step to prevent Azerbaijan from flooding the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Nagorno-Karabakh is in Azerbaijan, but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war ended there in 1994. That war left Nagorno-Karabakh itself and much of the surrounding territory in Armenian hands.
Heavy fighting that broke out in late September marked the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which more than 6,000 people died on both sides.
Despite looming public anger over the military defeat, Pashinyan maneuvered to bolster his rule and protests died down in the cold winter. But opposition demonstrations resumed with new vigor this week, and the feud between Pashinyan and the top military commanders has weakened his position.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Earlier this week, Pashinyan fired Deputy Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Tiran Khachatryan, after he mocked the Prime Minister’s claim that only 10% of the Iskander missiles supplied by Russia that Armenia used in the conflict exploded on impact.
The General Staff responded on Thursday with a statement demanding Pashinyan’s resignation and warning the government not to use force against opposition protesters. Immediately after the statement, Pashinyan fired the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Onik Gasparyan.