Ex-ombudsman says Pashinyan seeking role of church leader, not PM

Former Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church and said Pashinyan appeared more interested in becoming a church leader than remaining in office.

In a video posted on Facebook, Tatoyan, who leads the opposition Wings of Unity movement, said Pashinyan’s recent actions targeting the church, including a pilgrimage on Christmas, amounted to pre-election campaigning.

“Mr Pashinyan, it seems that you want to be Catholicos more than you want to remain prime minister,” Tatoyan said, referring to the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. “What happened on Tuesday and before that was apparently part of your election campaign. It’s truly ridiculous.”

Tatoyan said he intends to seek the post of prime minister and pledged a different approach to governance.

“As prime minister, you will never see me mock our national identity and the church, beat drums, play the role of a clown in a circus or waste time on meaningless and absurd matters,” he said.