Political drama has been unfolding in Armenia over the last few weeks, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan facing off against the Armenian Apostolic Church. It has led to some clergymen to suggest that Pashinyan isn’t a real Christian, and the Armenian Prime Minister offering to expose his genitals, to refute the allegation.
The clergy’s accusation followed the arrest of one of their own. On June 25, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a prominent critic of Pashinyan, was arrested and charged with orchestrating a coup to topple the government. At least 14 people were picked up that day, and the homes of dozens of opposition figures were raided. Pashinyan said that Armenia’s security forces had foiled a plot by “the criminal oligarch clergy to destabilize Armenia and take power.” he Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the governing body of the Armenian Apostolic Church, accused Pashinyan’s government of launching an “anti-Church campaign”.
The feud between Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church has been brewing for months. Galstanyan led massive demonstrations last year, demanding Pashinyan’s ouster. The clergyman blamed Pashinyan for Armenia’s failure to protect Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in 2023.
Nagorno-Karabakh was a de facto independent, ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijan captured the territory in September 2023, forcing more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee from the territory. Pashinyan has been negotiating a peace deal with Azerbaijan since the offensive. And the negotiations include additional territorial concessions. Galstanyan and his supporters considered these losses unacceptable, which is why they have been demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. So, Galstanyan has been a thorn in Pashinyan’s side. And now, he has been arrested and charged with plotting a coup.
But it isn’t just Galstanyan that has drawn Pashinyan’s ire. The Armenian Prime Minister has also been clashing with the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II. Earlier this month, Pashinyan had accused the Catholicos of having secretly fathered a child. Pashinyan demanded that the Catholicos step down, and even formed a group to choose his successor.
Pashinyan’s government has even arrested a Russian-Armenian billionaire, Samvel Karapetyan, for backing the Church. The industrialist was detained on June 17 on charges of "making public calls to overthrow the government". Moscow says it is closely monitoring the situation, because the detained businessman is a dual Russian-Armenian citizen. The conflict between Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church has taken an international dimension now. And it’s likely to intensify over the coming months.
Armenia is scheduled to hold its next general election on June 7, 2026. It seems Pashinyan is not only fighting his political opponents, but an institution that has been an integral part of Armenian society for over 1,700 years. Who will come out on top?
