First President Ter-Petrosyan Again Condemns Pashinyan’s Attacks on Armenian Church, Urges Nation to Defend Faith and Identity

This week, former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan strongly condemned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ongoing attacks on Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. In a statement, Ter-Petrosyan urged the public to remain united in defense of the Church, calling Pashinyan a "blasphemer" whose actions resemble past efforts to suppress the Armenian Church and national identity.

“Who is a blasphemer like Nikol that the Armenian people cannot overcome?” Ter-Petrosyan wrote in a Facebook post on June 12. He reminded the nation of the 1903 decree by Tsar Nicholas II, which confiscated church property and shut down Armenian schools. 

The Armenian people, he said, rose in such strong protest that the Tsar was forced to reverse the law just two years later. “If the Armenian people overcame the mighty Russian Emperor,” Ter-Petrosyan stated, “why will they not overcome a national traitor and blasphemer like Nikol?”

The remarks come as Prime Minister Pashinyan escalates his public campaign against Catholicos Karekin II, accusing him of breaking his vow of celibacy and demanding his resignation. Pashinyan has also proposed that the government be given more control in electing the next Catholicos, including vetting candidates through background checks — a suggestion many see as an unconstitutional overreach and a threat to the separation of church and state.

Ter-Petrosyan personally visited the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on June 7 to express his “full support” for the Catholicos. His public defense of the Church is a moment of unity among many political factions who often differ on other issues but now stand together against what they describe as government interference in religious life.

Opposition leaders, including figures aligned with Ter-Petrosyan’s Armenian National Congress, argue that Pashinyan’s efforts are not only illegal but politically motivated. Some believe the prime minister is attempting to weaken the Church’s influence in order to neutralize a key voice that has opposed his controversial decisions, particularly concerning Armenia’s concessions to Azerbaijan following the 2020 war. 

In response, Pashinyan has labeled the former president as the “founder of election fraud” in Armenia — a striking reversal from Pashinyan’s own earlier praise of Ter-Petrosyan during the 2007–2008 protest movement, when he called the former leader someone who “always turns out to be right.”

Tensions between the state and the Church have been rising for weeks, with Pashinyan’s government increasingly targeting top clergy members. While the prime minister insists his actions are about reform and accountability, many Armenians see them as part of a dangerous pattern of undermining key national institutions.

For many, the Church is not just a religious body — it is a cornerstone of Armenian identity, especially in times of hardship. Attempts to weaken it are viewed as not only political oversteps, but also deep cultural and historical wounds.

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