Legal expert links clergy-Pashinyan meeting to MICE motives

Constitutional law expert Gohar Meloyan has reflected on Thursday's meeting between eight senior clerics of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan.

Gohar Meloyan, head of the International Center on Development of Parliamentarism, suggested in a social-media post that the meeting should be viewed through the lens of the intelligence-sector acronym MICE – Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego – which is used to describe potential motives for defection or compromise.

Meloyan said personal allegations circulating on Facebook and Telegram about the clergymen involved had caused “deep and irreversible pain” among the faithful. Viewed through the MICE framework, she argued the circumstances surrounding the meeting appeared easier to understand.

"You can draw your own conclusions,” she added.

The International Center on Development of Parliamentarism was formed in 2019, declaring the primary goals of its activities: 

1. establishment of democracy, 
2. the consolidation of the rule of law, 
3. the development of parliamentarism, 
4. raising people's awareness and legal consciousness, 
5. and ensuring the implementation of personal, political, and socio-economic rights in the Republic of Armenia.

During 6 years of its operation, the organization has carried out awareness-raising activities and organized training courses in the regions of the Republic of Armenia.

ICDP also carries out observation missions in electoral processes, in the context of which it organizes training courses for observers.