Archbishop Galstanyan Renews Push for Regime Change in Armenia

YEREVAN (Azatytyun.am)—Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan vowed to resume next week street protests aimed at toppling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as he gathered thousands of supporters at a concert hall in Yerevan on Sunday.

Galstanyan said that his anti-government movement sparked by Pashinyan’s territorial concessions to Azerbaijan is entering an “intensive and consistent phase.”

“We must form a new government which will be merit-based and will become a government of unity,” he told the audience that included senior representatives of Armenia’s main opposition groups.

Galstanyan went on to announce that his next rally in Yerevan’s central Republic Square will take place on October 2. He did not say whether it will be followed by the kind of daily protests which he held in the Armenian capital in May and June. He urged supporters to gear up for a “patient struggle” for regime change.

His opposition-backed movement was generated by protests that erupted in Armenia’s northern Tavush province in April following Pashinyan’s decision to cede four local border areas to Azerbaijan. Galstanyan, who headed the provincial diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, quickly emerged as their leader.

After failing to scuttle the land transfer, the outspoken archbishop shifted the protests to Yerevan in early May to demand Pashinyan’s resignation. His rallies held there attracted tens of thousands of people. The most recent of them took place on June 17.

Pashinyan alleged in May that foreign intelligence “agents” are involved in the protests. He did not name them. Some of his political allies branded Galstanyan as a Russian spy. The 53-year-old clergyman, who also holds Canadian citizenship, laughed off the allegations.

Lawmakers representing Armenia’s Civil Contract party expressed confidence last month that fresh protests planned by Galstanyan will also fail to unseat Pashinyan and his government.