Ten months before his inauguration as Catholicos, Karekin II stands next to Armenian President Robert Kocharyan at an official event in Spitak, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 1998
For over a week now, the Armenian public has been subjected to another unedifying spectacle between the country’s political and spiritual leadership. Tirades posted on social media by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan targeting Armenian Catholicos Karekin II, who he accuses of fathering at least one child despite an oath of celibacy, have been incendiary. The allegation is not new. Armenian media even named an alleged daughter back in 2013. However, Pashinyan’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, further ratcheted up tensions by referring to some members of the clergy as paedophiles while not presenting any evidence.
Just days before Pashinyan’s posts, Karekin II was in Switzerland where he took part in a conference where Armenian cultural heritage in Karabakh took centre stage, an issue Pashinyan has been careful to avoid at this juncture when the text of a peace treaty has been finalised but not signed. Hakobyan specifically insulted the church for participating in the event now more likely to obstruct a possible peace deal than contribute to one. The government had already signalled that doing so now would carry with it significant national security concerns. It is likely that the new attacks on Karekin II are connected.
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Even when the Catholicos was elected in 1999, his legitimacy was disputed from the start. Unlike his predecessor, Karekin II’s selection was accompanied by accusations that it had been orchestrated by then-president Robert Kocharyan and supportive groups such as the Armenian Church in Russia. Adding to the intrigue, Karekin II was elected on the same day that gunmen stormed the Armenian National Assembly, killing eight including newly elected prime minister Vazgen Sargsyan and parliamentary speaker Karen Demirchyan. Nobody is suggesting the two events were connected but the coincidence was uncanny.
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Instead, there now seems to be a final showdown on the horizon between the pre-revolution regimes of old and what was meant to replace them. In short, a Historical Armenia personified by Kocharyan, Sargsyan, Karekin II, and perhaps even Ter-Petrosyan, locked into an existential battle with Pashinyan’s Real Armenia concept. As the coming year before the 2026 parliamentary elections progresses, the situation is likely to become even more heated and potentially volatile.
The full piece is available here.
