Bitter church feud divides Armenia ahead of elections

Walking through the grounds of Armenia’s holiest church, 37-year-old worshiper Nara Sargsyan spoke in hushed tones as she criticized her government’s attacks on the clergy.

“I don’t support their position on the church. I don’t support it at all,” she said AFPas the priests walked around the neatly trimmed grass of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral behind her.

For months, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called for the removal of church leader Catholicos Karekin II – one of his most prominent critics – claiming he fathered a child against his vow of celibacy.

Security forces in the South Caucasus country last year arrested more than a dozen clerics, including influential Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, as well as billionaire opposition figure Samvel Karapetyan, accusing some of them of plotting to overthrow Pashinyan – charges they deny.

The arrests have shocked Armenia, a deeply Christian nation of three million people bordering Iran and Turkey, and put Pashinyan on a collision course with one of the country’s most revered institutions ahead of elections in June.

“Government agencies are making unnecessary statements, interfering unnecessarily and making embarrassing comments about Catholicos,” said Sargisian, who works as an academic.

“After the recent clashes, the role of Catholicos has become even stronger, his patriotism and love for people have become even more visible.”

Catholicos called on Pashinyan to step down after Armenia’s military defeat to Azerbaijan in 2020, while Archbishop Galstanyan led mass street protests against Pashinyan’s rule four years later.

When asked about divisions in Armenian society, priests in the church sided with their leadership.

“The church is that link that embraces everyone in a warm embrace,” said Hovhanes Avetisyan, a deacon from the city of Armavir.

“Our goals are always constructive: not to repay evil for evil, but instead to sow love and preach peace.”

Trade thorn

Pashinyan and his supporters suggest that the church is aligned with Russia and that the opposition would lead Armenia into another war with Azerbaijan.

The opposition accuses Pashinyan of democratic backsliding and attempts to dismantle the independence of the church.

The government has also accused the church of corruption and says it needs reform, a claim the church has called a pretext to take him on.

Pashinyan came to power after a popular revolution in 2018 and has often portrayed himself as a man of the people.

But his popularity has waned in recent years, following a string of military defeats against neighboring Azerbaijan.

Only about 20 percent of Armenians trust the 50-year-old, though that’s still higher than any other politician in the post-Soviet country, a February poll by the International Republican Institute showed.

‘Political prisoner’

After billionaire opposition leader Samvel Karapetyan – a major church donor – was arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, his nephew Narek Karapetyan took over the mantle of running his election campaign.

He said AFP that his uncle was now a “political prisoner” and accused the government of persecuting religious leaders.

“This year, last year, was a terrible time for our democracy,” said Narek Karapetyan. “We have clergy, we have archbishops in prison.”

“They said there are some issues in our state politics that are not fair. And they were taken to jail.”

Pashinyan denies that Armenia has political prisoners and in April suggested that Samvel Karapetyan – who holds Russian, Cypriot and Armenian citizenship – was a “foreign agent”.

He has pledged to renounce his non-Armenian citizenship in order to be eligible for the post in the June election.

“The Church Needs Reform”

Pashinyan began his election campaign in the city of Gyumri in April, smiling for selfies with supporters and playing drums on stage.

He was surrounded by a large security detail, which would not allow him AFP journalists to approach him.

His supporters have rallied behind his church campaign.

“Most people believe that our Holy Apostolic Church needs reform,” said Milena Aslanyan, a 27-year-old linguist and supporter of Pashinyan.

“This is not appropriate for the so-called opposition forces, because these forces were sent from another country,” she said, in an apparent reference to Russia.

Norayr Saakyan, a 55-year-old shoemaker wearing a hat with the logo of Pashinyan’s re-election campaign, was also critical of the church.

“Some priests portray themselves as saints, but we see that they are not,” he said.

“Nikol Pashinyan is just pointing this out.”

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