Armenian president rejects army chief’s dismissal after PM order

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had urged President Armen Sarkissian to fire Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan after accusing the military of an attempted coup.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has refused to sign a prime ministerial order to dismiss the army’s chief of staff, deepening a national political crisis. The country has faced turmoil since Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a Russian-brokered peace accord in November, sealing a humiliating defeat to Azerbaijan after six weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Divisions widened on Thursday when Pashinyan defied a call by the military to resign, accusing it of an attempted coup and ordering the chief of the general staff, Onik Gasparyan, to be fired.