Lawyer: Pashinyan's anti-church campaign doomed to failure

Lawyer Arsen Babayan has denounced Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church and its leadership, warning that it will not succeed.

“I'm convinced Pashinyan doesn’t realize that the church is not the 2018 Armenian government and the Catholicos is not its head,” Babayan wrote on Facebook on Monday, referring to the 2018 political upheaval that brought Pashinyan to power. “A so-called ‘revolution’ against the Catholicos, modeled after 2018, will not lead to his re-election in 2026.”

Babayan argued that the authorities, being historically detached from the church, fail to grasp its foundational role and widespread public support.

“A revolution with the slogan ‘Reject the Catholicos’ simply won’t work,” he stated. "The church enjoys broad public support and I hope this will be clearly demonstrated in action, ultimately putting an end to 'Nikolism' in the country."