Amsterdam: Pashinyan is acting as though no institution in Armenia stands above his personal authority

(Horizon Media / YEREVAN) – International lawyer Robert Amsterdam has warned that Nikol Pashinyan’s government is escalating its interference in the Armenian Apostolic Church and increasingly treating the Church as an institution subject to political control.

Amsterdam said the government’s newly announced focus on “spiritual security” and Church “reform” marks a significant expansion of its campaign against the country’s historic national Church. The government has proposed a parliamentary inquiry into what it describes as a “deep systemic crisis” within the Church, with the possibility of legislative changes to follow.

The initiative comes after months of pressure on senior clergy. Bishops have faced arrests and criminal proceedings, while Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II has also been drawn into legal proceedings. Pashinyan has repeatedly demanded the Catholicos’ removal and has openly challenged the Church’s existing leadership.

Amsterdam said the government is now moving beyond targeting individual clergymen and is attempting to influence the future leadership, governance and direction of the Armenian Apostolic Church itself.

He stressed that the Church, one of the world’s oldest Christian institutions, has preserved Armenian religious and national identity through centuries of foreign domination, persecution, genocide and Soviet repression. Its leadership and internal affairs have historically been governed through its own canonical structures and traditions rather than by the political authorities of the day.

The Supreme Spiritual Council has also rejected the government’s latest intervention, stating that Armenia’s National Assembly is not the proper forum for resolving internal ecclesiastical matters and that Church reform cannot be imposed through outside pressure, threats or political coercion.

Amsterdam said Pashinyan is behaving as though no institution in Armenia stands beyond his personal authority, including the country’s parliament and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Amsterdam & Partners called on foreign governments, religious leaders, human rights organizations and Armenian Diaspora communities to publicly oppose political interference in the Church and defend its right to determine its leadership and internal affairs independently of the state.