Pashinyan sacked the commander making top military leaders angry which prompted them to ask him to resign call Pashinyan refused as he called on his supporters to oppose the army coup in Armenia.
While talking to thousands of his supporters, Pashinyan said that the army must obey people and elected authorities at the rally held in the capital city Yerevan.
Other leaders like Turkish President Erdogan also weighed in on the expected military coup saying that Turkey opposed all types of coups and a coup in Armenia is unacceptable after rumors of a coup starting circulating.
Erdogan who himself survived a coup in 2016 which was blamed on the US says that Armenia citizens should decide if the change of administration is to happen not the military.
Prime Minister Pashinyan forced a lot of protests after he accepted defeat at the hands of a more powerful neighbor Azerbaijan in a war that lasted for few weeks, many people in Armenia went to the streets to protest the ceasefire denouncing him as weak and not fit to be the prime minister of Armenia.
In that war, Turkey was a close ally of Azerbaijan which provided all military and political support to Azerbaijan which helped it to gain an upper hand in the war when Turkish military advisors started helping Azerbaijan soldiers and Turkish drones also tilted the balance of the war in Azerbaijan’s favor by destroying thousands of Armenia’s military hardware and killing hundreds of Armenia’s soldiers so it was a surprise to see Erdogan defend Armenia prime minister.
Erdogan’s quick reactions indicate how worried Turkey is about the resumption of war if the military takes over power in Armenia as a way of getting revenge against Azerbaijan which poses a serious security threat to Turkey and its interests in the region.
Yosam Mukundane Is a political and socio-economic policy analyst at Forsige and a reporter covering Africa and Asia from Uganda.
