Echmiadzin (Armenia) (AFP) – Walking through the grounds of Armenia's most sacred church, 37-year-old worshipper Nara Sargsyan spoke in hushed tones as she criticised her government's attacks on the clergy.
Issued on: 15/05/2026 - 08:09
"I don't support their position on the church. I don't support it at all," she told AFP, as priests walked around the neatly-cut grass of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral behind her.
For months, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called for the removal of the church's leader Catholicos Karekin II -- one of his most prominent critics -- alleging that he fathered a child against his vow of celibacy.
Security forces in the South Caucasus country last year detained more than a dozen clergymen including influential Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, as well as billionaire opposition figure Samvel Karapetyan, accusing some of them of plotting to overthrow Pashinyan -- charges they reject.
