Karekin II continues to call for Prime Minister Pashinyan’s resignation – State Department’s Report

The US State Department has issued its annual report on International Religious Freedom in about 200 countries around the world, including Armenia. The report about Armenia underscores tensions between the church and the government and problems related to religious minorities, among others.

“The constitution states that everyone has freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. It recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) as the national church and preserver of national identity but also establishes separation of religious organizations and the state,” the report says.

It also notes that the “government and AAC officials, including AAC leader Catholicos Karekin II and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, made public statements critical of each other concerning the government’s handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the AAC’s involvement in politics.”

According to the report, AAC officials continued to participate in civic discourse without restrictions, and Catholicos Karekin II continued to call for Prime Minister Pashinyan’s resignation. “Following Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19-20 and the exodus of nearly all ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, the Episcopal Council of the AAC issued a statement on October 3 criticizing the Armenian government’s handling of the situation.”

“During the 2023 school year, authorities began to gradually remove the course on the history of the AAC from the mandatory school curriculum, instead incorporating the relevant historical content in the broader curriculum on Armenian studies. This was despite the AAC’s objections. Representatives of the Yezidi community welcomed the removal of the course, as they said Yezidi children were indoctrinated into the AAC when the course was mandatory,” the report says.