“Only the people are able to solve this problem.” Let the people demand and let the people decide, even if the people decide to shoot me on this square.” Nikol Pashinyan
Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister, told supporters gathered on Republic Square in Yerevan the discussion about early parliamentary elections has been removed.
According to Pashinyan the Armenians should decide whether he should or should not resign.
Pashinyan stated that it was up to the people whether they wanted him to leave. He said that he had asked the opposition to discuss snap parliamentary election, but they chose to radicalize. “Only the people are able to solve this problem. “Let the people demand, and let the people decide, even if the people decide to shoot me on this square,” Pashinyan stated.
The Armenian PM’s address came after the General Staff demanded Pashinyan’s resignation. Pashinyan called this a coup attempt, and fired the chief of staff as well as his deputy.
The situation in Yerevan has become extremely tense. In the Armenian capital, supporters and opponents of Pashinyan hold rallies.
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev responded to the ongoing crisis of Armenia by saying, along with the war “the Armenian Army is over” and that forces who have “revanchist views” will “receive punched”.
Aliyev, commenting on the troubling events, called Armenia a “fascist country” and said:
“I heard just a few days back that their allies wanted to modernize the Armenian Army. Why? Who is it? The war is over. If someone has revanchist views they will be hit with a fist. Do not try our patience. The Armenian Army is no more, it doesn’t exist and shouldn’t exist. “There should be no army within a fascist regime.”
Aliyev, in a statement translated by RIA Novosti, said: “We will not allow our citizens to face any danger or risk when returning to the liberated lands.”
The situation in Yerevan grew tense when Nikol Pashinyan dismissed the first Deputy Chief General Staff, Tiran Khaachaturian.
Armenian media reported that Khachaturian “ridiculed Nikol Pashinyan’s statement about the Russian rocket complex – Iskander“, where the Armenian prime minister called them “useless”.
The General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces demanded Nikol Pashinyan to resign as soon as possible after Khachaturian was ousted on February 25.
In a statement, the General Staff stated that “the Prime Minister and Government fail to take adequate decisions in this highly crucial and fateful situation.”
The military officials write that the “ineffective governance of the present government and serious errors in foreign policy have brought the country to collapse.”
Pashinyan responded to this statement by writing on Facebook that he viewed the General Staff’s statement as an attempt at a coup and called for the supporters to gather on the Republic Square.
Both sides of the protesters are blocking the Armenian street at the same time.
By Nini Dakhundaridze
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