If Pashinyan somehow wins battle with church, it will lead to Armenia’s complete destruction — Andrey Perla

Speaking with Alpha News, political observer Andrey Perla commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ongoing campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“When analyzing Nikol Pashinyan’s actions in Armenian domestic policy, we need to understand two things. On the one hand, despite all his expressiveness and emotionality, he is a completely rational politician. On the other hand, this completely rational politician is pro-Western, pro-NATO, and one could even say that he is specifically pro-French. In this understanding, Armenia should not just turn towards the European Union, Armenia should be an instrument of a united Europe. If achieving this requires conflict with Russia, then so be it, because, in Pashinyan and his supporters’ view, the sun rises in the West. This is a fairly common point of view. Pashinyan is not the first, in this sense, he closely resembles Mikheil Saakashvili, from whom Georgia suffered a lot of grief. Objectively, Armenia cannot afford to be at odds with Russia, moreover, such an enmity threatens Armenia with destruction, as it borders states that, without Russian support, would simply consume it,” Perla said.

According to the expert, if Pashinyan somehow wins this battle with the church, it will be the complete destruction of Armenia.

“The Armenian Apostolic Church is one of the main pillars of that part of Armenian society that does not want to be pro-Western, wants to see Armenia as an independent state, with its own culture, with good relations with Russia. The Armenian Apostolic Church can under no circumstances become pro-Western—this contradicts its entire history, this contradicts its very essence. Accordingly, Pashinyan, as both an expressive and pragmatic politician, absolutely inevitably comes into conflict with the Armenian Church. Because a turn towards the West is a turn towards the most secular practices, atheism, radical liberalism, and opposition to traditional values. If you are for the West, then you are forced to accept all this. You cannot be a pro-Western politician and at the same time oppose, for example, same-sex marriages. Pashinyan understands this, so the conflict between him and the Armenian Church is absolutely inevitable. And we need to understand the cost of this conflict. If Pashinyan somehow wins this conflict, Armenia will perish, and this is not a joke,” Perla concluded.