Sawt Falasteen - Bitter church row divides Armenia ahead of elections

"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.

The arrests have rattled Armenia, a deeply Christian nation of three million people bordering Iran and Turkey, and put Pashinyan on a collision course with one of the country's most venerated institutions ahead of elections in June.

"Government agencies are making unnecessary statements, interfering unnecessarily, and making obscene remarks about the Catholicos," said Sargsyan, who works as an academic.

"After recent clashes, the Catholicos's role has become even stronger, his patriotism and love for the people have become even more noticeable."

The Catholicos called on Pashinyan to resign following Armenia's military defeat to Azerbaijan in 2020, while Archbishop Galstanyan led mass street protests against Pashinyan's rule four years later.

When asked about divisions in Armenian society, priests at the church sided with their leadership.

"The church is that link which embraces everyone in a warm hug," said Hovhanes Avetisyan, a deacon from the city of Armavir.

"Our aims are always constructive: not to repay evil with evil, but instead to sow love and preach peace."

- Trading barbs -

Pashinyan and his supporters suggest the church is aligned with Russia, and that the opposition would lead Armenia into another war with Azerbaijan.

The opposition accuses Pashinyan of democratic backsliding and attempting to dismantle the church's independence.

The government has also accused the church of corruption, and says it is in need of reform, an assertion the church has called a pretext to take it over.

Pashinyan rose to power on the back of a 2018 popular revolution, and has often portrayed himself as a man of the people.

But his popularity has waned in recent years, following a string of military defeats against neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Only around 20 percent of Armenians trust the 50-year-old, although that is still higher than any other politician in the post-Soviet country, a poll conducted in February by the International Republican Institute showed.

- 'Political prisoner' -

After billionaire opposition leader Samvel Karapetyan -- a major donor to the church -- was arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, his nephew Narek Karapetyan took the mantle of running his election campaign.

He told AFP that his uncle was now a "political prisoner" and accused the government of persecuting religious leaders.

"This year, last year, it was a terrible time for our democracy," Narek Karapetyan said. "We have clerics, we have archbishops in jail."

"They said that there are some issues in our state policy that are not right. And they were taken to jail."

Pashinyan denies Armenia has political prisoners and in April suggested Samvel Karapetyan -- who holds Russian, Cypriot and Armenian citizenship -- was a "foreign agent".

He has pledged to renounce his non-Armenian citizenships to be eligible for office in the June elections.

- 'The church needs reform' -

Pashinyan kicked off his election campaign in the city of Gyumri in April, smiling for selfies with supporters and playing the drums on stage.

He was surrounded by a large security detail, which did not allow AFP reporters to approach him.

His supporters have rallied behind his campaign on the church.

"The majority of the people believe that our Apostolic Holy Church needs reform," said Milena Aslanyan, a 27-year-old linguist and Pashinyan supporter.

"This is not convenient for the so-called opposition forces because these forces were sent by another country," she said, in an apparent reference to Russia.

Norayr Saakyan, a 55-year-old shoemaker wearing a hat bearing the logo of Pashinyan's re-election campaign, was also critical of the church.

"Some priests portray themselves as saints, but we see they are not," he said.

"Nikol Pashinyan is simply pointing this out."

X.Habash--SF-PST