EU Deepens Ties with Armenia During a Tense Moment for Religious Freedom

Persecution

July 7, 2026

EU Deepens Ties with Armenia During a Tense Moment for Religious Freedom

The European Union announced new economic assistance and expanded market access for Armenia, signaling deepening ties with the South Caucasus nation as it faces growing economic pressure from Russia.

During a visit to Yerevan last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged an additional €18 million in assistance and announced that tariffs would be removed from nearly 80% of Armenian exports entering the European Union.

The measures come after Russia imposed broad trade restrictions on Armenian goods following June’s parliamentary elections, which returned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party to power.

The growing partnership reflects Armenia’s ongoing efforts to reduce its dependence on Moscow and strengthen its ties with Europe. For the European Union, however, the expanding relationship presents more than an economic or geopolitical opportunity. It also creates an opportunity to encourage stronger protections for religious freedom and greater respect for the independence of Armenia’s historic Christian institutions.

As the world’s first Christian nation, Armenia occupies a unique place in Christian history. The Armenian Apostolic Church has shaped the country’s national identity for more than 17 centuries, preserving Armenian faith, language, and culture through foreign invasions, genocide, Soviet repression, and decades of regional conflict.

Today, more than 90% of Armenians identify with the Armenian Apostolic Church, making it not only the country’s largest religious community but also one of its most significant national institutions.

Despite this history, relations between Pashinyan’s government and the Armenian Apostolic Church have deteriorated sharply during the past year.

Government Platform Targets Church Independence

Before the June parliamentary elections, Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract Party released a political platform that directly called for the removal of Catholicos Karekin II, the spiritual leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Rather than simply criticizing church leadership, the platform outlined a politically directed process for restructuring the church itself. Among its proposals were the appointment of interim church leadership, the drafting of a new church charter, and new mechanisms governing church finances and clerical discipline — matters traditionally administered by church authorities alone.

The platform notably referred to Karekin II as the church’s “de facto head” rather than by his ecclesiastical title, a formulation many viewed as an effort to diminish both the office and the institution.

Such proposals represent an unprecedented level of political involvement in the internal governance of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Armenia’s constitution recognizes the church’s unique historical role while also protecting the separation of church and state. Those protections are reinforced through legislation recognizing the church’s right to govern its own internal affairs without state interference.

By including these proposals within its election platform, the ruling party effectively sought a political mandate for government involvement in ecclesiastical matters — a development that raises serious concerns about the future of religious freedom in Armenia.

Escalating Conflict Between Church and State

The election platform followed months of increasing confrontation between the government and church leadership.

Earlier this year, Armenian prosecutors opened a criminal case against Catholicos Karekin II. The Catholicos was also prevented from traveling abroad, barring him from attending an international gathering of Armenian bishops despite his position as head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The underlying dispute centered on an internal disciplinary matter involving the defrocking of a bishop — a decision that ordinarily falls within the church’s own spiritual authority. Government intervention in the dispute drew widespread concern because it signaled increasing state involvement in matters traditionally reserved for religious institutions.

For many Armenians, these developments extend beyond disagreements between political and religious leaders. The Armenian Apostolic Church has historically served as the guardian of Armenian national identity during centuries of persecution and foreign rule. Attempts by political authorities to reshape or control the church, therefore, carry significance that extends far beyond ecclesiastical governance.

Religious Freedom Extends Beyond Church-State Relations

The European Union’s growing engagement with Armenia also comes as the country continues to grapple with the aftermath of the 2023 Azerbaijani conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh, known to Armenians as Artsakh.

The military offensive displaced about 120,000 ethnic Armenians, emptying the region of its historic Armenian Christian population.

Since then, concerns have continued to mount regarding the protection of Armenian Christian heritage remaining under Azerbaijani control. Multiple Armenian churches have been demolished in the regional capital of Stepanakert, while monasteries, cemeteries, and other historic religious sites remain vulnerable to destruction or alteration.

For displaced Armenian Christians, religious freedom is inseparable from questions of cultural survival. The loss of churches and monasteries represents not only the destruction of historic buildings but also the erasure of centuries of Christian presence in the region.

A Strategic Partnership Creates New Opportunities

The European Union has recently positioned itself as Armenia’s principal Western partner, expanding economic cooperation while supporting broader regional stability in the South Caucasus.

That partnership provides Brussels with meaningful leverage to encourage respect for fundamental freedoms alongside economic and democratic reforms.

Supporting Armenia against external economic coercion need not come at the expense of advocating for religious liberty. On the contrary, a stable and democratic Armenia will be strengthened — not weakened — by respecting the constitutional independence of religious institutions and protecting churches’ ability to govern themselves free from political interference.

The European Union has repeatedly emphasized that closer integration with Europe is grounded in shared democratic values and respect for human rights. As cooperation with Armenia deepens, those principles should include clear encouragement for the Armenian government to uphold constitutional protections for the Armenian Apostolic Church, refrain from political interference in religious affairs, and defend the religious and cultural heritage of displaced Armenian Christians affected by the conflict with Azerbaijan.

For the world’s first Christian nation, safeguarding religious freedom is not simply a domestic political issue. It remains central to preserving the institutions, traditions, and communities that have sustained Armenian identity for nearly two millennia.