Armenian prime minister exerts force to suppress church opposition, says Eurasianet

Alleging a broad-based conspiracy to topple his government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is taking aggressive action to stamp out opposition within the Armenian Apostolic Church, Eurasianet writes.

As noted, on June 27, dozens of law enforcement personnel, including a contingent of National Security Services officers, descended on the Church’s administrative center, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to arrest an archbishop, Mikayel Ajapahyan, on suspicion of making a public call for the government’s overthrow. Clerics and devout believers put up spirited resistance, forcing law enforcement officers off Etchmiadzin’s grounds without taking Ajapahyan into custody. However, the archbishop ultimately decided to surrender to authorities. Three days earlier, Armenia’s Investigative Committee ordered the arrest of at least 14 people for allegedly conspiring “to commit terrorism and seize power.”

The alleged ringleader of the conspiracy is Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who headed a mass anti-government protest last year in opposition to a territorial transfer deal with Azerbaijan. Amid the Etchmiadzin standoff, Church leaders ordered the church bells of Armenian churches. Russia had voiced complaints about the earlier detention of Armenian-Russian oligarch Samvel Karapetyan, who Pashinyan indicated was connected to the coup conspiracy. Though clearly not popular in Moscow, Pashinyan appears to retain the backing of key European leaders.