International human rights activist addresses Pashinyan’s Soviet-style Persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church
John Eibner, American human rights activist and the President of the Christian Solidarity International (CSI) human rights organization, has addressed Nikol Pashinyan’s Soviet-style persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church on the orders of Recep Erdogan of Turkey and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on his X post.
Persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church
All in the Name of Peace and Prosperity
“The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Catholicos of All Armenians, is a “threat to national security”, charges Armenia’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, as he intensifies his Soviet-style persecution of the national church.[i]
This designation effectively puts the Catholicos Karekin II outside the protection of the law.
Meanwhile, the ever-expanding anti-Church dragnet of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) – the direct successor of the Soviet KGB – has now hauled in Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The archbishop was arrested and charged with “illegally selling drugs by a group of persons by prior agreement in a public place.” [ii]
Pashinyan has furthermore acknowledged that the NSS is pressuring clergymen not to mention the name of the Catholicos when performing the holy liturgy as prescribed by canon law.[iii]
That Karekin II is not the legitimate leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church is an allegation Pashinyan repeatedly makes in his smear campaign against the Church’s leadership.
These latest measures of coercion against the national church coincide with the announcement by the EU of a grant of $15 million to Pashinyan’s government based on what it calls “shared values” for the purpose of influencing Armenia’s 2026 election.[iv]
Pashinyan’s effort to overthrow the Catholicos is in harmony with the demands of Turkey’s Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s Aliyev for the removal of what they call “fascist” and “revanchist” forces from public life.[v] In their eyes the Armenian Apostolic Church is first and foremost among them.
“Fascism” – Alivey’s coded language for Armenian Christian political agency – “must be eradicated,” he declares. “Either the Armenian leadership will destroy it, or we will.”[vi] Pashinyan is doing it.
This Armenian Apostolic Church is the strongest bastion of the distinct Christian identity of the Armenian nation. As such, its leadership advocates for the right of the ethno-religiously cleansed Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh to return to the homes, for the release of 23 Armenian Christian hostages in Baku, and for recognition of the Armenia Genocide.[vii]
The surrogates of the Turkish-Azerbaijani condominium routinely accuse the Armenian Apostolic Church of being an obstacle to peace in the Caucasus. Among them is the Sheikh-ul-Islam of Azerbaijan, Allahshukur Pashazade, whom Aliyev has designated the spiritual leader for Muslims in Armenia.[viii]
Aliyev routinely claims that Armenia is in fact “Western Azerbaijan” and pledges to gain possession of it as part of a Greater Azerbaijan. Having already decisively defeated Armenia in the 2020 war for Nagorno Karabakh, Aliyev has declared: “We must return to our historical lands — not with tanks, but in cars.”[ix]
Erdogan and Aliyev threaten war if Pashinyan fails to crush the institutional pillars of Armenian Christian nationhood and to integrate it politically and economically into the Turkic Muslim world.
The continuing silence of western governments in response to the Armenian Prime Minister’s persecution of the national Church testifies to their acceptance, perhaps even active behind-the-scenes backing for it.
They propose that Pashinyan’s subservience to Armenia’s more powerful Turkic Muslim neighbors will hasten the opening of the Zangezur Corridor, named in Washington the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP).
The promised outcome is peace and prosperity from unimpeded connectivity between Azerbaijan and Turkey via Armenia.
The continuing silence of most western International Religious Freedom advocates testifies to the declining political independence and credibility of a once vibrant human rights movement”.
[1] https://azatutyun.am/a/33612929.html
2 https://news.am/eng/news/918721.html
3 https://azatutyun.am/a/33612929.html
4 https://armenpress.am/en/article/1236591
5 https://president.az/en/articles/view/67871
6 https://president.az/en/articles/view/67871
