Al Jazeera: Pashinyan isn’t a peace dove but he takes heed of Baku’s position
A confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia’s top Christian clerics seems to be deepening, polarizing the deeply religious South Caucasus nation of 3 million, Al Jazeera writes.
As noted, The dispute escalated late last month, with bells ringing tocsin over St Etchmiadzin on June 27. Usually, the loud and alarming sound signals an event of significance, such as a foreign invasion.
But on that day, the noise rang out to signal the detention of a top cleric who, according to Pashinyan, was part of a “criminal-oligarchic clergy” that was involved in “terrorism” and plotted a “coup”.
But the conflict should not be seen as a confrontation between secular authorities and the entire Church; it’s a personal clash, observers said. According to a resident of Armenia, with whom the correspondent of the media outlet spoke, attacking the Church is like attacking every Armenian. As noted, the Church, whose doctrine differs from that of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox sees, has for centuries helped maintain the identity of Armenians. Those opposed to Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party have accused him of siding with Azerbaijan and Turkey. But Baku has its qualms about Pashinyan.
“Pashinyan is by far not a peace dove,” Emil Mustafayev, chief editor of the Minval Politika magazine based in Baku, told Al Jazeera. After the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan “began to take heed of Baku’s position”, Mustafayev said. “Of all possible options in Yerevan, he’s the least problematic partner one can have a dialogue with, no matter how complicated it is.”
“And even though Pashinyan’s current approval ratings are well below 20 percent, his party may become a political phoenix and win the June 2026 vote. Armenian opposition parties are either centered around two former presidents from the “Karabakh clan” who are deeply mistrusted, or are too small and splintered to form sizable coalitions and influence decision-making in the unicameral, 107-seat parliament,” Al Jazeera writes.
