Armenia urged to finish crackdown on Apostolic Church as global concern grows

Religious freedom in Armenia — the world’s oldest Christian nation — is facing one in all its most serious crises in a long time, in accordance with a recent report warning of escalating confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAHC).

The report, issued by international law firm Amsterdam & Partners, accuses Prime Minister Pashinyan of pursuing an authoritarian campaign to weaken the Church’s influence ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections.

It alleges that senior clergy and outstanding supporters have been arrested on politically motivated charges, while Church institutions are being systematically undermined.

Among those detained is Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, serving a two-year prison sentence after criticising government policies and supposedly advocating for the overthrow of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in addition to businessman Samvel Karapetyan, one in all the Church’s leading benefactors.

Karapetyan — whose assets include Armenia’s electricity company — has been held in pre-trial detention for the reason that summer and stripped of his holdings, after he “made a transient public statement in defence of the Church” on 17 June, in accordance with the report.

It also notes that although Prime Minister Pashinyan’s standing amongst voters has eroded, the Armenian Apostolic Church stays deeply rooted in national life, with 97.5 per cent of Armenians affiliated with it.

The situation has drawn international criticism. Vice chair of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Freedom Lord Jackson of Peterborough, said: “The idea of committed Christians on the earth’s oldest Christian country, and in civilised and modern Europe, thrown into jail for defending their faith is frightening.”

“Christian denominations in Armenia should give you the option to retain the proper to congregate and worship in peace without the specter of violent intimidation and imprisonment or worse.” 

He added, “The world is anticipating human rights abuses committed against these embattled Christian communities.”

The Armenian Apostolic Church, founded in 301 AD, stays a cornerstone of national identity and is trusted by nearly 60% of Armenia’s three million residents, in accordance with the report.

However, relations with the federal government have sharply deteriorated for the reason that country’s defeat within the 2023 Nagorno-Karabakh war — a conflict that displaced greater than 100,000 ethnic Armenians and left many blaming the federal government for its handling of the crisis.

According to the report, church leaders have been vocal in defending the rights of those displaced and in criticising what they see as Pashinyan’s failure to guard Armenian Christians from ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Having failed to forestall the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno- Karabakh in 2023, Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s Prime Minister since 2018, is persecuting those that criticise his leadership and rule…,” the report claims.

“Pashinyan has made it his personal mission to overthrow His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II, launching a rare series of online attacks on the current leader of the Church.”

Alison Meuse, a regional analyst and journalist, warned that “the Church has not faced such an existential threat for the reason that harshest years of Soviet purges and consolidation of power,” adding that “history in Armenia appears to be repeating itself.”

The report comes amidst growing international appeals for Armenia to stop what Christian organisations have described because the “persecution” of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In July 2025, Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Coptic Solidarity, and SOS Chrétiens d’Orient issued a joint statement urging the Armenian government to release detained clergy and stop interference in the inner affairs of the Church.

The groups said the federal government was engaged in an “intensifying campaign” against senior clerics and Church supporters marked by arbitrary arrests, property seizures, and police raids on sacred sites, including the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin — the spiritual centre of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

As the 2026 elections approach, observers fear the confrontation could deepen divisions inside Armenian society.

CSI further alleged that the federal government is looking for to bring the Church under state control by proposing to switch its Catholicos — the top of the Church — with a state-appointed committee.

Prime Minister Pashinyan has denied targeting the Church, saying his administration is attempting to “rescue it from anti-Christian” and “anti-state” elements which have, in his view, taken hold inside its ranks.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) also recently weighed in with an announcement of “deep concern,” condemning the usage of force inside sacred spaces and the detention of clergy.

General Secretary General of WCC, Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, affirmed the Church’s “unique and revered role in Armenia’s spiritual and cultural life” and called on the federal government to guard the rights and dignity of all religious leaders and institutions.

The WCC also urged Armenian authorities to refrain from rhetoric or actions that would further inflame tensions, to safeguard the values of non secular liberty and fairness, and to advertise dialogue between state and Church.