Supporters flock to Etchmiadzin where heavy security was present on Dec. 18, 2025

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has opted to take his relentless campaign against the Armenian Church and the opposition forces in Armenia to the European Parliament, where during a speech on Wednesday, he seemed to be appealing to the European lawmakers by insisting they are foreign agents.

Since he unleashed his crusade against the church almost a year ago, Pashinyan has always underscored the importance of his campaign as being crucial to the well-being of every Armenian domestically. He elevated his attacks on the Church, Catholicos Karekin II and other high-ranking clerics by suggesting that they were foreign agents and former KGB agents.

This comes as Pashinyan and his administration have overtly called on the EU to provide assistance in combatting so-called “hybrid threats” ahead of the June parliamentary elections. The EU leadership identified Russia as a “threat” as a foregone conclusion and offered financial assistance. In recent weeks, the Armenian government reportedly has asked the EU to dispatch teams to combat these threats.

Pashinyan weaved his campaign against the Church and the opposition during his speech on Wednesday at the European Parliament when he was boasting of his “heroism” for unilaterally demarcating and delimiting a portion of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in Tavush, as a result of which four Armenian villages were essentially ceded to Azerbaijan. This move sparked a movement led by the Primate of the Tavush Diocese, which Pashinyan has used to advance his campaign against the Church.

He said this demarcation process is “a symbol of peace, because we established peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan by recognizing each other’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence on the basis of the Alma Ata Declaration of December 21, 1991, according to which Soviet Azerbaijan became independent Azerbaijan, Soviet Armenia became independent Armenia, and this is the outline of the map of the territory of independent Armenia.”

Pashinyan claimed that the areas Tavush “which the leaders of the church-opposition movement had made their symbol” is thriving and the population has increased by 50 percent, without presenting data backing that claim.

“I would not have touched upon the topic of the involvement of some clergy in this process against peace, if I had not seen how the emissaries of these clergy and representatives of some lobbying organizations affiliated with them are trying to spread in the European Parliament and other authoritative international structures that the Armenian Government is restricting freedom of conscience, that a dictatorship is being established in Armenia, that there are political prisoners in Armenia,” he segued into his criticism of the church at the European Parliament.

“The reality is that some clergymen, who cynically violated all the rules of spiritual good conduct, thus making themselves vulnerable to foreign special services (by the way, the fact that some of them were agents of the USSR KGB is proven by documents), have assumed the leadership of the war party in the Republic of Armenia, consolidating around them the former leaders of Armenia, some forces associated with them, some pro-Russian and pro-Belarusian oligarchs, and are trying to sacrifice Armenia’s independence to the interests of third countries,” Pashinyan asserted.

“We will not allow a new conflict, a new war. We will not allow the consciousness, peace and independence gained at the cost of thousands of victims to be sacrificed for anti-Christian purposes. In the text of our liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, the word peace is mentioned more than 40 times, and it is not only about the person, the soul, but also about world peace, about which there are dozens of supplications in the canonical text of our liturgy, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and today some are using the altar of Christ to preach conflict, war and/or intra-Armenian violence, trespassing the boundaries of the legislation of the Republic of Armenia. This cannot be tolerated in any democratic country,” Pashinayn said.

Pashinyan claimed that the opposition is attempting to “exploit” and play on the emotions of Artsakh Armenians who were forcibly displaced from their homeland after Azerbaijan launched a massive attack in September 2023, while he and his administration sat idly by. Later he and his allies not only disavowed Artsakh and its citizens but went as far as to characterize them as second class citizens in Armenia and provoking enmity against them.

Yet at the European Parliament on Wednesday, Pashinyan said that his policies have ensured the well-being of the Artsakh “refugees” as he called them, if and only if they acquire Armenian citizenship, without mentioning that at the time of the exodus to Armenia, he revoked their Armenian citizenship, which was already granted to them.

“Our strategy in this regard is very clear: our Karabakh sisters and brothers must receive Armenian citizenship and be permanently settled in the Republic of Armenia. We have already launched their resettlement program, which has benefited 4,886 families so far. We need the greatest possible support from our international partners to solve this problem aimed at strengthening peace,” Pashinyan told the European Parliament.

For a person who claims to deplore foreign interference in Armenia’s election process, Pashinyan and his administration have gone to great lengths to engage foreign powers as active participants in the process. By appealing to the EU for assistance Yerevan has effectively invited the bloc to be conduit in ensuring their re-election in June. It seems the EU’s inference is not considered a “hybrid threat.”

A day before Pashinyan’s speech at the European Parliament, Armenia’s Foreign Intelligence Service issued a cryptic statement warning of a campaign by unnamed foreign powers to engage Armenians living abroad to support opposition forces in Armenia during the elections. The statement suggested that these foreign entities allegedly were drafting Armenians to go and vote in the June elections.

In his speech, Pashinyan made it clear that the unnamed foreign powers were the “pro-Russian and pro-Belarusian oligarchs,” who “are trying to sacrifice Armenia’s independence to the interests of third countries.”

A little over a month before the election, Pashinyan has received endorsements by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Vice-President JD Vance, who during his visit to Armenia last month, said the prime minister is the only person who could ensure that documents signed at the White House last year would effectively be implemented. This coupled with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan continuously hinting his tacit support for Pashinyan, has already signaled that the Armenian authorities are open to foreign interference, only if it ensures their return to power for another five years.

Meanwhile, the EU, which has crowned itself as the protector of democratic rights in the world, seems unmoved by the Pashinyan administration’s ongoing efforts to quash any movement that opposes its agenda by advancing the notion that a vote against him and his Civil Contract Party would be a vote for war and conflict.

It remains to be seen how the electorate will respond to these antics.

Ara Khachatourian is the Executive Editor of Asbarez.

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