Yerevan’s Nikol Pašinyan clashes with Army chiefs

The Army General Staff demands the resignation of the government. Pasinyan dismisses some leaders. Two opposing demonstrations. Responsibilities for the defeat in Nagorno Karabakh. The Kremlin is worried.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Nikol Pašinyan is again under public scrutiny this time for speaking out against the military. Yesterday the Armenian Army General Staff demanded the head the resignation of the entire government, after the premier himself dismissed the first deputy chief of staff, General Tiran Khachatryan.

The latter had criticized Pašinyan, blaming him for the defeat in Karabakh on the military and on the use of Russian Iskander missiles. Forty senior army officials signed a letter against the premier for firing Khachatryan "for unfounded and short-sighted reasons". Pašinyan defined this move as "an attempted coup d'etat", and invited his supporters to take to the Republic Square, in front of the Yerevan government building, to protest against the military (photo 1).

After the letter from the generals was released, Pašinyan also fired the Army Chief of Staff, Onik Gasparyan (photo 2). The premier's statements on Russian missiles date back to February 23, when in an interview with 1in.am Pašinyan claimed that in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict last autumn "the Iskanders failed to explode, at most 10%", a sentence that aroused the protests of the military. According to Gasparyan, "the armed forces of Armenia have long endured discriminatory attacks on soldiers, but everything has a limit".

The Armenian National Security Service (SNB) has asked everyone to avoid provocations, riots and violence that endanger national security, otherwise "there will be a police response".

Representatives of the "Movement for the Salvation of the Fatherland" also gathered in Piazza della Libertà, which gathers a dozen opposition parties and calls for the resignation of Pašinyan, to replace him with the former defence minister Vazken Manukyan (photo 3).

Opponents have expressed their solidarity with the army generals, accusing Pašinyan himself of wanting to push the country into civil war. The movement's statement states: "Pašinyan has the last chance to leave the scene politically, before a conflict erupts". Opponent groups have blocked several neighbourhoods of the Armenian capital, even invading the building of the Yerevan State University; 60 people were arrested by the police.

In the rally of his supporters, Pašinyan argued that the situation is under control, and that "inside the country there are no enemies, but there are issues that need to be clarified without giving in to emotional reactions", as reported by the Sputnik Armenia news agency. The premier assured that the armed forces "submit to the people and the premier", and will not allow anyone to plunge the country into an irreversible crisis. Responding to rumours that he wants to flee abroad, Pašinyan reiterated: "I have no intention of going anywhere, even my family stays here".

The evolution of the situation in Armenia worries the Kremlin. In a phone call between Pašinyan and Putin, the premier said he wanted to start consultations to resolve the situation through dialogue. According to the premier, the president of the republic Armen Sarkisyan is also fomenting the riots, having refused to sign the letters of resignation of the generals and in this way "joining the supporters of the coup". Pašinyan also refused to hold early elections, which "would be against the will of the people", but asked to stop the demonstrations and sit down with the opposition at the negotiating table.