Armenian PM Slams Catholicos for Defending Coup Plotters

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has issued a sharp rebuke of Catholicos of All Armenians Ktrij Nersisyan (Garegin II) following the latter’s criticism of recent high-profile arrests.

Pashinyan responded to the Catholicos’s public questioning of the legality of the arrests of Vazgen Galstanyan and Gevorg Ajapahyan, both of whom have been accused of plotting anti-government actions, The Caspian Post reports via Pashinyan’s message on Facebook.

“If Nersisyan believes the arrests are illegal, then he evidently supports their ideology and their plans - to stage a military coup, execute people against the walls, and spread chaos throughout the country,” the prime minister wrote.

Pashinyan also defended law enforcement operations in Vagharshapat - an administrative region encompassing Etchmiadzin and nearby villages - stressing that “no territory within the community can be closed to law enforcement agencies.”

Taking his criticism further, the prime minister remarked, “Especially given that, thanks to Ktrij and certain other individuals, these areas have long not been off-limits to adultery.”

In June 2025, tensions between the Armenian government and the Armenian Apostolic Church escalated sharply after Pashinyan publicly accused Catholicos Garegin II of violating clerical celibacy by allegedly fathering a child out of wedlock.

Pashinyan demanded the Catholicos’s resignation and proposed the creation of a special body to oversee the process of selecting a potential successor-posing a direct challenge to the Church’s authority.

The Armenian Apostolic Church firmly denied the accusations, denouncing them as an assault on the spiritual unity of the nation.