Armenia’s Church targeted in brutal crackdown by authoritarian PM Pashinyan, The Hill writes
This Christmas, the world’s oldest Christian church was under attack. The church in Armenia has been the object of a brutal campaign unleashed by the country’s authoritarian ruler, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, The Hill writes.
The aim of Pashinyan’s campaign against the Church is to divert attention of the country away from its existential problems.
As noted, people from across Armenia are deeply dissatisfied with Pashinyan’s leadership and believe that the nation is drifting in the wrong direction. Nearly three-quarters of citizens now struggle with poverty and Pashinyan’s approval rating was measured in the single digits last summer.
A significant factor in dissatisfaction with his governance is the sense that Pashinyan has been unwilling or unable to safeguard Armenia’s national security and sovereignty during a period of exceptional geopolitical vulnerability. Armenia now confronts the coordinated pressure of Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan — three powers whose cooperation threatens the country’s existence.
Armenia’s loss of Artsakh, its main strategic defense buffer, in 2020 and the subsequent exodus of its 120,000 Armenian population in 2023 remains a national trauma. Pashinyan has attempted simultaneously to deny responsibility and deflect blame, while many view the church’s firm stance on this tragedy as a principal catalyst for his feud with the clergy. The church has vigorously defended the rights of the refugees and highlighted Pashinyan’s culpability for this national humiliation.
Citing widespread abuse of administrative resources and government crackdowns on its critics, Transparency International’s Anti-Corruption Center stated in a recent report that these problems are calling into question the freedom and fairness of this year’s Armenian parliamentary elections.
The publication states that although the EU blindly and unconditionally supports Pashinyan despite his anti-Christian and defeatist policies, he has repeatedly shown that he is not a reliable partner for the West.
His visit to China, with which he recently signed a strategic partnership agreement, is a testament to that, coming only days after the historic Aug. 8 peace deal he had pre-signed in the White House. The Trump administration should not fall for Pashinyan’s continuous flip-flopping.
“A strong U.S. statement denouncing Pashinyan’s actions against the Armenian Apostolic Church would go a long way in helping the people of Armenia remove him from power and force new elections.
Conversely, allowing Pashinyan to keep attacking the church and dividing his country risks jeopardizing the deal that the Trump administration worked so hard to seal,” the website writes, adding that it might even backfire during midterm elections in November 2026.
