Armenia order to arrest senior priest over alleged coup plot triggers scuffles
June 27 (Reuters) - A new order to arrest a senior clergyman over allegations of plotting to overthrow the government triggered scuffles outside the most celebrated church in Armenia on Friday, according to Armenian news reports.
Video posted on Armenian news sites showed security forces jostling with a crowd outside the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church near Yerevan, the capital, as they tried to detain Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan.
The officers withdrew from the area outside the cathedral in Etchmiadzin, and the reports said the archbishop agreed to discuss the allegations with representatives of the Armenian Investigative Committee. A court was to rule on whether to keep Ajapahyan in detention.
The unrest erupted two days after another prominent cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, was detained, the latest stage in an increasingly acrimonious confrontation pitting the church against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government.
Galstanyan faces charges, along with 13 others, of plotting to overthrow the government. Both clergymen deny any wrongdoing.
The Armenian church denounced the street confrontation, saying the day "will remain in the modern history of our people as a day of national shame because of the shameful actions of Armenian authorities against the Armenian church".
Pashinyan, who faces an election next year, said this week that the authorities had thwarted a "large and sinister plan by the 'criminal-oligarchic clergy'" to take power in Armenia, a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus.
Some senior clerics have previously called for Pashinyan to step down over Armenia's military defeats against Azerbaijan after decades of hostilities.
Pashinyan rose to power on a wave of street protests in 2018, but came under heavy domestic pressure after major losses in a second major conflict with Azerbaijan in 2020.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook the whole of the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for decades.
Tensions between the two neighbours remain high and the number of reported ceasefire violations has surged this year.
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Reuters
14 hours ago
- Reuters
Armenia order to arrest senior priest over alleged coup plot triggers scuffles
June 27 (Reuters) - A new order to arrest a senior clergyman over allegations of plotting to overthrow the government triggered scuffles outside the most celebrated church in Armenia on Friday, according to Armenian news reports. Video posted on Armenian news sites showed security forces jostling with a crowd outside the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church near Yerevan, the capital, as they tried to detain Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan. The officers withdrew from the area outside the cathedral in Etchmiadzin, and the reports said the archbishop agreed to discuss the allegations with representatives of the Armenian Investigative Committee. A court was to rule on whether to keep Ajapahyan in detention. The unrest erupted two days after another prominent cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, was detained, the latest stage in an increasingly acrimonious confrontation pitting the church against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government. Galstanyan faces charges, along with 13 others, of plotting to overthrow the government. Both clergymen deny any wrongdoing. The Armenian church denounced the street confrontation, saying the day "will remain in the modern history of our people as a day of national shame because of the shameful actions of Armenian authorities against the Armenian church". Pashinyan, who faces an election next year, said this week that the authorities had thwarted a "large and sinister plan by the 'criminal-oligarchic clergy'" to take power in Armenia, a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus. Some senior clerics have previously called for Pashinyan to step down over Armenia's military defeats against Azerbaijan after decades of hostilities. Pashinyan rose to power on a wave of street protests in 2018, but came under heavy domestic pressure after major losses in a second major conflict with Azerbaijan in 2020. In 2023, Azerbaijan retook the whole of the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for decades. Tensions between the two neighbours remain high and the number of reported ceasefire violations has surged this year.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Crowds block Armenian security forces from arresting a clergyman who has criticized the government
Security forces faced off with crowds Friday at the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the government sought to arrest a clergyman in the latest move against outspoken critics of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The tense confrontation in Etchmiadzin, outside the capital of Yerevan, ended with security forces withdrawing from the site without arresting Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan to avoid escalating the situation, Armenia's National Security Service said. The NSS asked him to turn himself it, and it was not immediately clear if he did so. Images on social media showed clergymen in black robes who had rushed to the scene jostling with police as members of the NSS stood by. Bells of a nearby cathedral in the complex, known as the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and home to church leader Catholicos Karekin II, rang out. Pashinyan was the focus of protests last year by tens of thousands of demonstrators after Armenia agreed to hand over control of several border villages to Azerbaijan and to normalize relations between the neighbors and bitter rivals. On Wednesday, authorities arrested Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who leads the Sacred Struggle opposition movement, accusing him of plotting to overthrow the government. Armenia's Investigative Committee alleged he was planning to carry out a sabotage campaign — charges that his lawyer described as 'fiction.' Members of Sacred Struggle accused the government of cracking down on their political rights. Another vocal critic of Pashinyan, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, was arrested last week after being accused of calling for the government's overthrow that he denied. The NSS said in a statement that citizens should 'refrain from escalating the situation and not to hinder law enforcement agencies in the execution of their duties.' It also urged Ajapahyan to not hide from law enforcement agencies and to appear before authorities. Government prosecutors accuse Ajapahyan of calling for the ouster of the government in an interview on Feb. 3, 2024, according to his lawyer, Ara Zohrabyan. Ajapahyan initially said he would accompany police, but ultimately did not enter the awaiting car. 'I have never hidden and I am not going to hide now,' Ajapahyan said. 'I say that what is happening now is lawlessness. I have never been and am not a threat to this country, the main threat is in the government.' Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in territorial disputes since the early 1990s, as various parts of the Soviet Union pressed for independence from Moscow. After the USSR collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatist forces backed by the Armenian military won control of Azerbaijan's region of Karabakh and nearby territories. In 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured broad swaths of territory that were held for nearly three decades by Armenian forces. A lightning military campaign in September 2023 saw Azerbaijan fully reclaim control of Karabakh, and Armenia later handed over the border villages. Pashinyan has recently sought to normalize relations with Azerbaijan. Last week, he also visited Azerbaijan's top ally, Turkey, to mend a historic rift. Turkey and Armenia also have a more than century-old dispute over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. Historians widely view the event as genocide. Turkey vehemently rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but insisting the death toll is inflated and resulted from civil unrest. Attempts to impeach Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018, were unsuccessful. Although territorial concessions were a core issue for Sacred Struggle, it has expanded to a wide array of complaints about Pashinyan as the Apostolic Church's relationship with the government deteriorated. On June 8, Pashinyan called for Karekin II to resign after accusing him of fathering a child despite a vow of celibacy. The church released a statement at the time accusing Pashinyan of undermining Armenia's 'spiritual unity' but did not address the claim about the child.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Kari Lake struggles to answer softball question on Capitol Hill
Kari Lake, Senior Advisor for the USA Agency for Global Media, faced an awkward exchange with a House Democrat at Capitol Hill. During questioning, Rep. Jim Costa asked Lake to identify the language spoken in Armenia. Lake failed to name the language, admitting she had heard it but couldn't recall its name. Rep. Costa revealed the language is Armenian, prompting Lake to laugh off the fumble and call it a "trick question". Watch the video in full above.
