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Armenia's President Armen Sarkissian has again rejected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s motion to dismiss Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan.

In a statement on Tuesday, the president said he attaches importance to the urgent settlement of the political crisis created over the issue of Onik Gasparyan’s dismissal.

“For that purpose meetings were held with the prime minister, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan and the military’s top brass. The prime minister’s arguments for not accepting the president’s objections to the draft decree on the dismissal were also examined. It is obvious that the current situation is the result of the existing disagreements, sometimes with highly personalized approaches, among the political and military figures during the war and in the post-war period,” the statement reads.

The president made a decision not to sign the draft decree and will apply to the Constitutional Court with a request to determine the compliance of the 2017 law “On the Status of Military Service and Servicemen” with the Constitution.

Earlier on Thursday, Pashinyan dismissed Gasparyan, accusing him of “attempting a military coup” after the military’s top brass demanded his and his cabinet’s resignation. The prime minister's order needed an approval from the presidency.