Pashinyan lacks popular mandate to destroy Armenia’s Church, international media say

The confrontation between the Church and the state over the government’s efforts to transform Armenian society and the economy may be approaching a resolution, Eurasianet writes.

According to the outlet, since the beginning of the year Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has intensified pressure on his political adversary, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. Observers say Pashinyan’s main motivation for demanding the Catholicos’s removal is the latter’s unwavering resistance to the prime minister’s “Real Armenia” agenda.

EADaily, in turn, notes that Pashinyan has never had, and will never have a popular mandate to dismantle the institution of the Church in Armenia.

Moreover, the topic of “spies” fits neatly into the authorities’ plan to incite anti-Russian sentiment. In other words, the Pashinyan administration sought to provoke media hysteria and, under that pretext, marginalize the Church. However, the opposite has occurred: those who support the current anti-church actions have suddenly become social outcasts and are now viewed as traitors.

“With each passing day, the repulsive adventurism of Pashinyan’s government erodes what remains of its ‘clean’ image. The process itself is highly revealing in terms of the evolution of Armenia’s domestic political situation,” the outlet writes.