Religious freedom is under severe attack in the world’s oldest Christian country, according to a major new report on looming civil strife in Armenia. It accuses the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, of launching a ferocious assault on the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.
He has sought to overthrow its leader Catholicos Karekin II and has jailed its leading clerics and parishioners with one archbishop, Mikayel Ajapahyan, serving a two-year sentence for criticising the government. Lord Jackson of Peterborough, vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Freedom, said: “The idea of committed Christians in the world’s oldest Christian country, and in civilised and modern Europe, thrown into jail for defending their faith is frightening.
“Christian denominations in Armenia should be able to retain the right to congregate and worship in peace without the threat of violent intimidation and imprisonment or worse.
“The world is watching for human rights abuses committed against these embattled Christian communities.”
Armenia is traditionally regarded as the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, with many historians dating the decision to 301 or 314 AD.
A detailed report from the international law firm Amsterdam & Partners accuses Pashinyan of acting like a dictator in his bid to cling to power in elections next year.
It points out that while Pashinyan’s popularity has plummeted in recent years, the Church continues to enjoy massive popular support with 97.5 per cent of the three million population of Armenia claiming membership.
The report says: “To explicitly target high ranking members of a national church, and its supporters, with vexatious, ill-founded and politically motivated prosecutions to silence criticism and exert control, is an act of an unpopular and politically inept regime, clinging to power through whatever means necessary.”
The clash between Church and State in Armenia has its origins in Armenia’s defeat in 2023 in the war with Azerbaijan over the Armenian Christian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. This led to ethnic cleansing of the region with over 100,000 Armenians being forced to flee to safety.
