By Nvard Hovhannisyan and Artem Mikryukov
YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenian President Armen Sarkissian refused to fire the country’s chief of the Armed Forces on Saturday, intensifying the standoff between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the army over what Pashinyan said was a coup attempt for remove it.
Pashinyan dismissed Chief of Staff General Onik Gasparyan on Thursday, but his resignation needed formal approval from the president – who rejected the measure as unconstitutional and said the army should be kept out of politics.
Hundreds of opposition supporters, who were meeting in the center of the capital, Yerevan, welcomed Sarkissian’s decision with cheers and applause after it was announced by the president’s office.
Pashinyan criticized the president’s move, saying in a Facebook statement that “this decision does not contribute to resolving the current situation”.
Gasparyan did not comment publicly on the coup charges.
The army called for Pashinyan’s resignation after what critics say was the government’s disastrous management of a bloody six-week conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenian ethnic forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year.
Pashinyan has faced resignations before, but it was the first time that the military has publicly asked for his resignation.
Pashinyan has the right to return the decree to the president a second time, at which point Sarkissian must sign it or send it to the constitutional court, presidential spokeswoman Zoya Barseghyan told Reuters.
Pashinyan said he would resubmit the decree.
If Sarkissian does not sign the decree or send it to the constitutional court, the decree takes effect by default.
“Without a doubt, the Armed Forces must remain neutral on political issues,” the presidential office said in a statement on its website.
“Obviously, due to the war, today more than ever the staff of the armed forces needs the support and attention of all of us.”
(Written by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Matthias Williams and Helen Popper)