Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan mentioned Wednesday that safety forces had thwarted a coup try allegedly involving a high-ranking cleric, as tensions escalate between his authorities and the management of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Pashinyan has been at loggerheads with senior clerics since 2020, when Catholicos Garegin II started calling for his resignation following Armenia’s disastrous army defeat to archrival Azerbaijan over the then-disputed Karabakh area.
“Law enforcement officers have foiled a large-scale and sinister plan by the ‘criminal-oligarchic clergy’ to destabilise the situation in the Republic of Armenia and seize power,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
He shared an announcement by Armenia’s investigative committee, which claimed that Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan had “since November 2024 set himself the goal of changing power by means not permitted by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.”
Galstanyan – the chief of opposition Sacred Struggle motion – final 12 months accused Pashinyan of ceding territory to Azerbaijan and led mass protests that finally did not topple the prime minister.
The investigative committee mentioned that Galstanyan “with the prior consent of several members of the movement, acquired the necessary means and tools to carry out terrorist acts and seize power.”
“Searches are currently underway at the homes of Archbishop Bagrat and around 30 of his associates,” it added.
A detailed affiliate of the archbishop, MP Garnik Danielyan, informed journalists that “these are actions of a dictatorial regime,” and referred to as the accusations towards the cleric fabricated.
The lack of Karabakh after Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in 2023 has divided Armenia, as its neighbor calls for sweeping concessions in alternate for lasting peace.
Earlier this month, Pashinyan launched an unprecedented problem to Garegin II, urging believers to take away him from workplace.
He has alleged that the Catholicos has a toddler in a blazing row that prompted fierce opposition, criticism and requires Pashinyan to be excommunicated.
Armenia – the primary nation to undertake Christianity as a state faith within the 4th century – grants the Armenian Apostolic Church particular constitutional standing and the church wields appreciable affect in Armenian society.
Source: www.dailysabah.com