A crowd of Armenian protesters forced their way into a government building in the capital Yerevan on Monday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported Monday.
Opposition protesters held a rally in the lobby on the ground floor, urging officials from several ministries not to support Pashinian. Shouting slogans and demanding the resignation of the head of the Cabinet, they left the building.
"We are halting our action. Our goal was to show that we can enter any ministry," said one of the protesters.
Anti-Pashinian demonstrations shook Yerevan last week with 15,000 protesters marching through the capital Saturday as pressure on the leader intensified after the country's president rejected his order to dismiss the chief of the military general staff.
Protests against Pashinian arose in November after he signed a cease-fire ending a six-week war with Azerbaijan that conceded territory occupied by Armenian forces. The agreement concluded a six-week war over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory in which thousands died.
Top military officers last week joined in demanding Pashinian's resignation, a move that he called an attempted coup. He ordered the dismissal of the chief of the general staff, but the order was subject to approval by Armenia's largely ceremonial president.
According to media reports, the deputy chief of the general staff of Armenia mocked the prime minister, for which Pashinian dismissed him. He also prepared a decree on the resignation of the head of the general staff, Onik Gasparyan, but President Armen Sarkissian refused to sign it, saying he could not give approval because he considered parts of the decree to be in violation of the constitution. The prime minister sent a second appeal to the presidential administration, while the ruling parliamentary faction "My Step" has threatened Sarkissian with impeachment.
"The steps that Armen Sarkissian took recently, it seems, are aimed at causing the mentioned negative consequences. Thus, we can state that there are serious grounds for initiating the process of impeachment of Armen Sarkissian on the basis of gross violation of the Constitution," Vahagn Hovakimyan, a lawmaker from "My Step," wrote on Facebook.
Gasparyan remains in power with the military chief refusing to meet with Pashinian and government ministers. He made a statement on Twitter Friday saying: "Our demands didn’t change. The situation can worsen."
At the protest rally, opposition politician Naira Zograbyan, who once was a journalist at a newspaper owned by Pashinian, denounced the prime minister.
"This is not a military coup. This is a revolution of thought, reason, love, which will win,” she said, according to remarks carried by The Associated Press (AP).
The political crisis is being watched closely, particularly in Russia and Turkey, which compete for influence in the South Caucasus region. The South Caucasus has strategic importance as a bridge between Europe and Asia and major pipelines transporting Azerbaijani oil to the West pass through the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday that Ankara opposes all types of coup attempts.
"We are against all types of coups. We simply cannot accept coup attempts," Erdoğan told reporters in a brief news conference following Friday prayers in Istanbul. He continued by saying that the Armenian military's attempt is "unacceptable," adding that the Armenian people should have the final say if the existing administration needs to be changed.
"They need to leave this decision to the Armenian people's will," Erdoğan added.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Pashinian and "called on all parties to show restraint," the Kremlin's spokesperson said.
