Latest news with #ArmenianChurch
EVN Report
14-07-2025
- Business
- EVN Report
June on View
A high-stakes clash involving PM Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Church and oligarch Samvel Karapetyan has triggered political, religious and geopolitical tensions, with Pashinyan calling for the nationalization of Armenia's power grid amid charges of foreign interference and subversion. Read more As Armenia focuses on defense reforms aimed at deterrence, Azerbaijan intensifies its military build-up and superiority despite ongoing peace talks. Sossi Tatikyan analyzes diverging strategies, spending and alliances, highlighting how the military imbalance threatens regional stability and undermines prospects for lasting peace. Read more As Armenia reorients its foreign policy away from Russia, it is deepening ties not only with the West, but also with non-Western partners. Hovhannes Nazaretyan explores Armenia's evolving engagement with Central Asian states as part of that strategy. Read more In light of the Iran–Israel conflict, Raffy Ardhaldjian argues that civil defense is a core function of sovereignty and a tool of statecraft—less about technical fixes, more about political will. Armenian political thought, he stresses, begins with readiness, not rhetoric. Read more Exploring the Armenian-Argentine experience, Tigran Yegavian asks whether a diaspora can sustain Armenianness without a homeland, reflecting on identity, disconnection, and the enduring spirit that binds a dispersed people across generations and continents. Read more Armenia's electric vehicle market is booming, driven by import incentives and global trends. But as EV adoption accelerates, the country faces a looming challenge: how to safely recycle lithium-ion batteries in a system unprepared for hazardous waste disposal. Read more Facing limited childcare options and short parental leave, many Armenian mothers are forced to choose between career and caregiving. Hranoush Dermoyan explores the systemic failures behind Armenia's childcare crisis, and what it means for women, families and economic growth. Read more Armenia's tech sector is scaling rapidly, contributing around 7% of GDP and drawing global attention. Davit Manukyan highlights key trends from the 2025 Tech Market Insights report that reveals a complex ecosystem filled with both success stories and challenges. A critical reflection on Armenia's national pavilions at the 2025 Triennale Milano and Venice Biennale of Architecture, Maria Gunko explores how they navigate themes of heritage, technology and everyday architecture, offering contrasting visions of authenticity, identity and the politics of representation. Read more Reflecting on her own struggle with imposter syndrome, Sheila Paylan unpacks the weight of inherited trauma and the seduction of Armenian exceptionalism. Through the lens of identity and confidence, she calls for both an individual and collective shift—from needing to be seen as exceptional to doing the work of becoming truly excellent. Read more Azerbaijani activist Bahruz Samadov was imprisoned for his pro-peace stance. In this open letter, Sheila Paylan highlights the brutal cost of dissent under Azerbaijan's authoritarian regime and the moral failure of silence in the face of repression. Read more Judith Simonian's solo show at JJ Murphy Gallery in New York unveils vivid, layered canvases where absence, abstraction and narrative tension converge. Her psychologically rich, formally inventive works transform everyday scenes into uncanny meditations on memory, perception and the human subconscious. Read more World Bank senior economist Julie Rosenberg discusses Armenia's path to green growth, focusing on reducing natural gas dependency, expanding solar energy, addressing water management challenges, and implementing key policy and financing reforms outlined in the Country Climate and Development Report. The June issue of SALT explores how tradition and reinvention meet across culture, style and taste. We look at the comeback of film photography, feature a visual story of open-air ballet, visit a restaurant blending Jewish and Korean cuisines, and talk to Syrian- and Lebanese-Armenian hairdressers. Plus, an essay capturing the energy of Yerevan Wine Days.
OC Media
09-07-2025
- Politics
- OC Media
Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia offers to mediate in ‘shameful' feud between church and Yerevan
Sign in or or Become a member to unlock the audio version of this article Join the voices Aliyev wants to silence. For over eight years, OC Media has worked with fearless journalists from Azerbaijan — some of whom now face decades behind bars — to bring you the stories the regime is afraid will get out. Help us fuel Aliyev's fears — become an OC Media member today Become a member Armenian Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia has offered to mediate between the Armenian Church and the government in their ongoing conflict. Aram I's statement was published by the Armenian Orthodox Church's website on Wednesday. 'It is a shame, a thousand shames! The current unhealthy and anti-national atmosphere created in the life of our beloved Homeland, Armenia', said the Catholicos of Cilicia. 'Unfortunately, the words of the Armenian language are not enough to describe my pain'. Aram I is the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, the see responsible for Armenian communities in the Middle Eastern diaspora, functioning autonomously from the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. 'The atmosphere that has recently emerged within the two nation-building and patriot-building structures of our nation, Holy Etchmiadzin and the National Assembly, is deeply shameful and condemnable to me', he said. Aram I goes on to say that 'mistakes, omissions, polarisations, and confrontations […] need to be discussed through specific processes and in a calm atmosphere, so that appropriate solutions can be reached'. He noted that he has not visited Armenia for about six years, and that he had 'thought a lot' about visiting to help 'calm the storm that has been created', but decided against it due to 'unfounded and ongoing statements' made in parliament that 'distort our moral, spiritual, and national values, as well as the arrests that are taking place'. Advertisement 'However, I remain committed to coming to the Homeland at any time and consulting with Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, and other responsible officials, so that we can seek viable solutions to get Armenia out of the difficult situation it has created.' Tensions between the Armenian Church's Holy See in Etchmiadzin and the government have been at an all-time high for months, with the two exchanging insults and accusations since late May, when Pashinyan claimed that churches in Armenia were being turned into 'storerooms'. The accusations further escalated, with Pashinyan, his wife, Anna Hakobyan, and senior members of the ruling Civil Contract party regularly accusing high-ranking clergy, including Catholicos Karekin II, of breaking their celibacy vows. Pashinyan has since regularly demanded that Karekin II admit that fathered a child. In June, at least 15 were detained as part of an alleged coup plot against the government, including two high-ranking clergymen — Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan. The authorities claim that Galstanyan's anti-government movement, Holy Struggle, spearheaded the plot to overthrow the government. He was arrested on 25 June for allegedly plotting 'terrorist attacks and a coup d'état'. Ajapahyan, who was wanted for making public calls for usurping powers, surrendered himself to the authorities on 27 June, after police attempted and failed to apprehend him at Etchmiadzin Cathedral as supporters of the church prevented them from reaching the archbishop.
Al Jazeera
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
In Armenia, a bitter dispute escalates between PM Pashinyan and the church
A confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia's top Christian clerics seems to be deepening, polarising the deeply religious South Caucasus nation of 3 million. St Echmiadzin, the Armenian Apostolic Church's headquarters, has been 'taken over by the anti-Christian, immoral, antinational and antistate group and has to be liberated', Pashinyan wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, adding: 'I will lead this liberation.' The dispute escalated late last month, with bells ringing tocsin over St Echmiadzin on June 27. Usually, the loud and alarming sound signals an event of significance, such as a foreign invasion. But on that parching-hot June 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'. He said the 'coup organisers' include the Church's head, Karekin II, who has disputed with Pashinyan in a months-long personal feud. But the conflict should not be seen as a confrontation between secular authorities and the entire Church, observers said. 'It's a personal clash,' Richard Giragosian of the Regional Studies Center think tank based in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, told Al Jazeera. But some Armenians still described the furore in almost apocalyptic terms. 'We lost our statehood so many times, so being part of the Church was equal to being Armenian,' Narine Malikyan, a 37-year-old mother of two from Armenia's second-largest city of Guymri, told Al Jazeera. 'Attacking the Church is like attacking every Armenian.' The Church, whose doctrine differs from that of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox sees, has for centuries helped maintain the identity of Armenians while their lands were ruled by Iranians, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, Turks and Russians. 'The Karabakh clan' The conflict between Pashinyan and Karekin is rooted in the 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended a decades-old 'frozen conflict'. In the early 1990s, Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azeri enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians, broke away in a bloody war that uprooted up to a million. Moscow-backed separatist leaders from Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Armenia's political elite and cultivated ties with the Church. The so-called 'Karabakh clan' spawned two presidents who ruled Armenia for 20 years but were accused of corruption, cronyism and pocketing donations from Armenian diasporas in France, the United States and Russia. In 2018, Pashinyan, an ex-lawmaker and popular publicist, led huge protests that toppled the 'Karabakh clan'. He became prime minister with approval ratings of more than 80 percent. Some protesters back then flocked to St Echmiadzin to urge Karekin to step down as they lambasted his penchant for luxurious cars and lavish parties. 'An illegitimate child' Two years later, Armenia lost Nagorno-Karabakh in a 44-day war that proved the superiority of drone attacks and hi-tech stratagems. By 2023, Azerbaijan regained control of the entire Dubai-sized territory, while tens of thousands of its residents flocked to Armenia. Karekin blamed Pashinyan for the defeat, even though observers have argued that the responsibility lies with his predecessors's miscalculations. Pashinyan struck back. He claimed that 73-year-old Karekin – who was ordained in 1970, studied theology in Austria, Germany and Moscow and became the Church's head in 1999, broke his vow of celibacy to father a child – and should, therefore, vacate his seat. 'If Karekin II tries to denounce this fact, I'll prove it in all necessary ways,' Pashinyan wrote on Facebook on June 9. He did not specify the details, but Armenian media 'discovered' that Karekin's alleged daughter is a medical doctor in Yerevan. Karekin did not respond to the claim but accused Pashinyan of dividing Armenians. 'The anti-clerical campaign unleashed by authorities is a serious threat to our national unity, domestic stability and is a direct blow to our statehood,' the grey-bearded clergyman, clad in a ceremonial robe adorned with crosses, said on June 22 at a ceremony at St Echmiadzin. A day later, a priest called Pashinyan 'Judas' and claimed he was circumcised. Pashinyan retorted by offering to expose himself to the priest and Karekin. A failed detention On June 27, dozens of intelligence officers interrupted a conference in one of St Echmiadzin's tawny, centuries-old buildings to forcibly deliver another Pashinyan critic, Archbishop Mikael Adjapakhyan, to an interrogation. But priests and parishioners summoned by the tocsin fought them off – while critics compared the incident to the 1938 killing of Armenia's top cleric in St Echmiadzin during the Soviet-era crackdown on religion. Hours later, Archbishop Adjapakhyan volunteered for an interrogation, telling supporters that he 'was being persecuted illegally'. He was arrested for two months – along with 14 alleged 'coup organisers,' including another archbishop, Bagrat Galstanyan, opposition lawmakers and 'Karabakh clan' figures. The coup was supposed to take place on September 21, on Armenia's Independence Day, according to its plan leaked to the daily. Also arrested was construction tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, who made his estimated $3.6bn fortune in Russia and owns Armenia's main power company. Karapetyan had threatened Pashinyan, saying if the conflict with Karekin is not solved, 'we will take part in it all in our own way.' The arrests were 'a move by the Armenian government to preempt any potential Russian interference in the coming [parliamentary] elections that are set for June 2026', analyst Giragosyan said. 'Pashinyan is hard to negotiate with' Those opposed to Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party have accused him of siding with Azerbaijan and Turkiye. 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 the Azeri capital, Baku, told Al Jazeera. 'He is hard to negotiate with.' However, 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.' Analyst Gigarosyan agreed. 'Pashinyan is the best interlocutor [Baku and Ankara] could hope for because of predictability and also because he's looking to turn the page,' he said. 'He's not looking for revenge.' 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 centred around two former presidents from the 'Karabakh clan' who are deeply mistrusted, or are too small and splintered to form sizeable coalitions and influence decision-making in the unicameral, 107-seat parliament. 'They're likely to win,' Giragosyan said of Pashinyan's party. 'Not because of a strong degree of support, but because the opposition is hated and feared more.'
OC Media
01-07-2025
- Politics
- OC Media
Pashinyan calls for regulation of non-Armenian citizens' participation in politics
Sign in or or Become a member to unlock the audio version of this article Join the voices Aliyev wants to silence. For over eight years, OC Media has worked with fearless journalists from Azerbaijan — some of whom now face decades behind bars — to bring you the stories the regime is afraid will get out. Help us fuel Aliyev's fears — become an OC Media member today Become a member Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called for the establishment of mechanisms or the adoption of legislation that would limit the political activity of foreign nationals in Armenia. According to Pashinyan, some foreign nationals express 'the most radical views', such as making calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order. 'This is something unimaginable and unacceptable, and I, as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, cannot tolerate such a thing', Pashinyan stated, adding that such phenomena would not be tolerated in any other country. The prime minister apparently was referring to the case of the recently arrested Russian–Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who has been charged with calling for the usurpation of power in Armenia. The tycoon was arrested during a raid of his home in Yerevan after he had made statements in defence of the Armenian Church amidst ongoing tensions between it and the government. As Karaptyan was arrested, Pashinyan vowed to 'swiftly' nationalise the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), which is run by Karapetyan's Tashir Group, and also launched inspections into his popular Tashir Pizza chain, closing down some branches over violations. Since his arrest, the Yerevan municipality has been taking down screens and posters with messages in support of Karapetyan. Pashinyan called for limiting the political activity of foreign nationals as he introduced the newly appointed director of the National Security Service (NSS), Andranik Simonyan, to his staff on Monday. Advertisement Simonyan's predecessor was fired on the same day as Karapetyan's arrest. Pashinyan seemed to confirm that Armen Abazyan's dismissal was connected to Karapetyan's case, saying that 'overall the work of the NSS director pertains to virtually everything, especially security-related, including hybrid security'. However, he dismissed rumours that Abazyan was dismissed for refusing to carry out his orders. Tackle the 'agents of [foreign] influence' During his introduction of Simonyan, Pashinyan touched on 'hybrid threats' faced by Armenia, saying it was necessary to pay 'special attention' to the activities of 'agents of [foreign] influence'. He said that sometimes, a foreign agent's activities have 'the most dangerous manifestations', targeting the state and its sovereignty. 'We should have the opportunity to express a specific attitude towards this form of activity,' Pashinyan said. Pashinyan praised the work of NSS, noting that it was 'effectively confronting the numerous challenges' which Armenia faces, adding that all the challenges which could 'destabilise' Armenia and 'create security challenges have been successfully neutralised to this moment'. He also highlighted the importance of what he said are the three main objectives of the security agency: counterintelligence, fighting terror, and maintaining constitutional order. Pashinyan also assured that his government would continue to provide all necessary conditions for increasing the effectiveness of the NSS's activities.
Roya News
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
Armenia moves to arrest senior archbishop over coup allegations
Tensions between Armenia's government and the Armenian Apostolic Church escalated dramatically on Friday after security forces attempted to arrest Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan outside the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the spiritual center of Armenian Christianity. According to local news outlets, clashes broke out between security personnel and a crowd of supporters gathered at the church's headquarters near the capital, Yerevan, as officers moved to detain the archbishop over accusations of conspiring to overthrow the government. Video footage circulating on Armenian media showed pushing and shouting outside the church compound. Security forces eventually withdrew, and Archbishop Ajapahyan reportedly agreed to meet with investigators to address the allegations. A court is expected to decide soon whether he will be formally placed in detention. The incident follows the arrest earlier this week of another high-ranking cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, along with 13 others, on charges of plotting a coup. Both Galstanyan and Ajapahyan deny any wrongdoing. In a strongly worded statement, the Armenian Apostolic Church condemned Friday's confrontation, declaring, 'This 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.' Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is facing growing political pressure ahead of next year's elections, accused the clergy of attempting to undermine the state. 'The authorities have thwarted a large and sinister plan by the 'criminal-oligarchic clergy' to take power in Armenia,' he said earlier this week. The clash marks a dramatic escalation in a long-simmering dispute between the secular government and elements of the church. Several senior clerics have previously demanded Pashinyan's resignation, particularly after Armenia's defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 following a popular uprising against Armenia's old guard, has seen his popularity decline in the aftermath of the war and Azerbaijan's full takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023. Many in Armenia view the loss of the region, where ethnic Armenians had lived with de facto autonomy for decades, as a national humiliation.
