Security Forces Raid Etchmiadzin as Another Archbishop is Prosecuted

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Security forces clashed with angry priests and other followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church on Friday as they tried unsuccessfully to arrest another archbishop critical of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan surrendered to an Armenian law-enforcement agency several hours after the failed operation, a decision clearly agreed with the church’s leadership but criticized by some of his supporters.

They raided the church headquarters in Etchmiadzin shortly after announcing that Ajapahyan has been charged with calling for a violent overthrow of the Armenian government. The criminal proceedings came two days after another outspoken archbishop was arrested on coup charges amid Pashinyan’s controversial bid to depose Catholicos Karekin II II and other senior clergymen.

Ajapahyan dismissed the accusations when policemen and masked officers of the National Security Service (NSS) arrived at the Etchmiadzin seat of Karekin II in the morning to take him into custody. Although he seemed willing to turn himself in, other clergymen and laymen present there intervened to block the arrest, sparking scuffles with the NSS officers and other law-enforcement personnel. Karekin II was also at the scene, trying to calm the tensions.

Hundreds of interior troops and special police were deployed around the church’s Mother See in the following hours. They tried to storm the compound early in the afternoon but met with strong resistance from hundreds of people who gathered there in response to appeals from the church and opposition leaders.

The security forces retreated after jostling with the protesters for about 30 minutes. An NSS vehicle that was parked outside Karekin II’s residence and carried officers planning to arrest Ajapahyan also left the scene shortly afterwards.

Pashinyan accused the protesters of attempting to “instigate clashes” and praised the security forces for “not giving in to the provocations.” For its part, the NSS issued a statement urging Ajapahyan not to “hide from law enforcement” and warning his supporters to “avoid escalating the situation.”

A lawyer representing Ajapahyan, Mihran Poghosyan, insisted that he is not hiding from justice. Poghosyan argued that investigators never summoned the archbishop for interrogations and what he was always “available” to them.

In a statement that condemned the botched NSS raid, the church’s Mother See likewise argued that the archbishop never received, let alone ignored, summonses from investigators. It said he will voluntarily appear before the Investigative Committee.

Ajapahyan confirmed this late in the afternoon. “We won this battle and must not give the authorities a pretext to launch a second assault,” he told his supporters.

Many of them were unhappy with the decision, surrounding a car that was about to drive Ajapahyan to Yerevan. The latter was forced to get out of the car and return to Karekin II’s residence, with the crowd chanting “Monsignor!”

“If I stay here they [the authorities] will portray me as a fugitive, and I don’t want to be a fugitive,” Ajapahyan said when he again emerged from the building about an hour later. “If you don’t let me go [to Yerevan] by car, I’ll go on foot.”

The crowd reluctantly followed him. They walked for about a kilometer before continuing the 21-kilometer journey to the Armenian capital by car.

The Investigative Committee headquarters was surrounded by an unusually large number of police officers and other security personnel when Ajapahyan arrived there. The law-enforcement authorities also blocked an adjacent street.

A vocal critic of Pashinyan, the 61-year-old archbishop heads the Armenian Church diocese encompassing the country’s northwestern Shirak province. His office in the provincial capital Gyumri was searched by police in the morning.

Ajapahyan stands accused of making “public calls for the seizure of power and violent overthrow of the constitutional order.” The accusation is understood to stem from comments made by him in February 2024. Critics say the fact that the authorities waited for 16 months to prosecute him is further proof that the case is politically motivated and part of Pashinyan’s campaign against the top clergy.

The criminal case against Ajapahyan was reportedly opened last week. Ajapahyan and his lawyers claimed that the authorities deliberately waited for several days in order to demonstratively arrest him in Etchmiadzin during an annual gathering of priests chaired by the Gyumri-based archbishop.

Pashinyan launched his campaign a month ago. On Thursday, he threatened to forcibly remove Karekin II from Etchmiadzin if the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church continues to ignore his demands to resign. The threats repeated by Pashinyan on Friday were construed by opposition activists as a prelude to a violent assault on the Mother See.

Pashinyan’s detractors say that he declared war on the church in an effort to please Azerbaijan and/or neutralize a key source of opposition to his unilateral concessions to Armenia’s arch-foe. The premier has denied that.