Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan joined demonstrations organized by his supporters in the capital Yerevan, in parallel with protests that expanded to include several Armenian cities, in light of an escalating crisis between Pashinyan and senior leaders in the army.

On Thursday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared on the streets of the capital Yerevan, accompanied by his supporters, and called on them to confront the attempted military coup.

In a speech to his supporters, Pashinyan called on his supporters to confront the attempt to overthrow him by a military coup, and also called on the army to do its duty to defend the borders of Armenia, and not to engage in politics.

He added that a change of power can only happen through early or regular elections.

The French Press Agency said that nearly 20,000 people poured into the city center, a kilometer away from the site of another opposition demonstration, in which about 10,000 people called on Pashinian to resign.

Urgent presidential measures

For his part, the Armenian president announced Thursday that he is taking urgent measures to end a political crisis, in the wake of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's accusation of the army of carrying out a coup attempt.

President Armin Sarkissian said, "I call on everyone, from official bodies, law enforcement agencies, political forces, and all citizens to exercise restraint and arbitration of reason. Every unwanted word or action exacerbates tensions and deepens the crisis."

The president, who plays a largely symbolic role, added, "With my emphasis on the presidency's role as a body to achieve balance, I am taking urgent measures to defuse tensions and find ways to settle the situation peacefully."

Army position

The prime minister's move came after the Armenian Chief of Staff Onik Gasparyan, and senior commanders in the army, issued a statement calling on him to resign.

"The ineffective way in which the current government is running and the massive mistakes in foreign policy have brought the country to the brink of collapse," he said in a statement.

It was not clear whether the army was ready to use force to support the statement calling for the prime minister's resignation, or if it was merely a verbal call.

Pashinyan responded by removing the Chief of Staff Onik Gasparyan from his post, before matters escalated politically and on the ground, while the procedures required that the president sign the dismissal decision.

Pashinyan criticized the army leaders, in a speech to his supporters, saying that the army belonged to the people and to the presidency of the government, adding, "The situation is difficult in Armenia, but we have to agree on the absence of confrontations."

He expressed his readiness for dialogue with all parties, describing the army commanders who were dismissed earlier today as brothers, adding that he does not plan to leave the country.

He also expressed his deep thanks to his gathered supporters, calling them to continue support in the face of what he described as an attempted military coup.

Gasparyan's dismissal was made by Pashinyan, as he ridiculed in the press his statements questioning the reliability of the Russian weapons system and the Iskander missile launchers during the Karabakh conflict.

The General Staff believed that this decision was based only on Pashinyan's "personal feelings and aspirations".

The position of the opposition

For their part, the opposition parties in Armenia called on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign.

The main opposition party in the country called on the prime minister to seize what he called the last opportunity to get out of power without violence or unrest, and urged him not to lead the country into civil war and bloodshed.

Supporters of the opposition gathered in central Yerevan to demand Pashinyan's departure.

Pashinyan, a former journalist and historical dissident, came to power in the spring of 2018, driven by a revolution promising to pull this Caucasian country out of poverty and uproot the corrupt elite.

Karabakh war ... the beginning of the crisis

Pashinyan has been facing protests and calls to resign since November, after what his opponents described as a disastrous management of the 6-week bloody conflict between Azerbaijan and the forces of Armenian descent in Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding areas.

Troops of Armenian origin lost large areas to Azerbaijani forces in last year's conflict that killed thousands.

A Russian peace-keeping force is currently deployed in the enclave, which is recognized by the international community, as part of Azerbaijan, but its residents are of Armenian descent.

Since its independence with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has witnessed a series of crises and political revolutions, some of them dead.