The recent developments around the Armenian Apostolic Church show that the anti-church campaign initiated by the government has essentially reached a dead end.
Influential figures are already emerging from the group of clergy named “Tiradav”. Reverend Abraham, the leader of Vayots Dzor Diocese, voluntarily resigned from his position and was called to rest. Earlier, Archbishop Hovnan Terteryan, the leader of the American Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also left that group.
However, I am far from thinking that Nikol Pashinyan has abandoned his anti-church and anti-constitutional policy. Another explanation is more likely. the political priorities of the government have simply changed. At this stage, Pashinyan is fully focused on the election campaign, trying to reduce the fronts that can take away his political and administrative resources.
However, the created situation reveals a deeper problem. The government’s resources are obviously limited. As a matter of fact, Pashinyan is not able to effectively manage several difficult political processes at the same time: conflict with the church, tense foreign political environment and electoral struggle.
This circumstance in itself is an eloquent political impetus. When the government is forced to retreat in one of the political fronts it has opened in order to focus on another, this already indicates its limited capabilities. In such a situation, the government gradually loses the initiative and switches to defensive tactics.
In such conditions, a lot depends on the opposition. If the opposition forces are able to conduct a competent, meaningful and organized campaign, the government may find itself in a political impasse. In that situation, the government will no longer dictate the political agenda, but will have to respond to the events and the agendas of the opposition.
A fundamental question is whether the opposition will be able to take advantage of the created opportunity and turn the resource limitation of the government into an opportunity for real political change.
Political scientist Suren Surenyants
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