The issue was on the agenda of a five-day session of the church’s Supreme Spiritual Council that drew to a close in Echmiadzin at the weekend.
“The Supreme Spiritual Council found the initiative to adopt a new Constitution very bewildering, especially given that it is widely perceived in public circles also as a consequence of external coercion,” read an official statement on the session chaired by Catholicos Garegin II.
“It was noted that the discourse of various high-ranking Armenian officials as well as the president of Azerbaijan regarding the adoption of the new Constitution only deepens existing suspicions,” it said.
Pashinian declared last month that Armenia needs a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. Analysts believe that he first and foremost wants to get rid of a preamble to the current constitution that makes reference to a 1990 declaration of independence adopted by the republic’s first post-Communist parliament. The declaration in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on February 1 that Armenia should remove that reference if it wants to cut a peace deal with his country. Armenian opposition leaders portrayed Aliyev’s statement as further proof that Pashinian is planning to change the constitution at the behest of Baku. Pashinian has denied the opposition claims while saying that Armenia “will never have peace” as long as it sticks to the 1990 declaration.
The church council defended the country’s existing constitution, saying that it is anchored in “the cherished past of our people” and their “national aspirations.” It also condemned Azerbaijan’s “expansionist ambitions” and “continuing encroachments” on Armenian territory.
Pashinian’s relationship with the ancient church, to which the vast majority of Armenians belong, has increasingly deteriorated since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Garegin and other senior clergymen joined the Armenian opposition in calling for Pashinian’s resignation following Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war.
Pashinian and other senior Armenian officials have boycotted Christmas and Easter liturgies led by Garegin for the past three years. In May 2023, the premier accused the church of meddling in politics, prompting a scathing response from Garegin’s office.
Tensions between the government and the church rose further last October when Garegin blamed Pashinian for Azerbaijan’s recapture of Karabakh and the resulting mass exodus of the region’s ethnic Armenian population. The church had repeatedly condemned Pashinian for recognizing Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh before Baku’s September 19-20 military offensive.
The Supreme Spiritual Council concluded its session as over 200 supporters of Garegin gathered at the church’s Mother See following reports that an obscure group of Armenians planned to hold the same day a rally in Echmiadzin to demand his resignation.
The town’s municipal administration sanctioned the rally, slated for February 24, late last month but revoked the permission shortly afterwards amid an uproar from vocal critics of the Armenian government. They claimed that Pashinian is behind the attempted rally.
The crowd that gathered on Saturday to show support for the church’s supreme head included several opposition figures, notably Levon Kocharian, a parliament deputy from the opposition Hayastan alliance led by his father and former Armenian President Robert Kocharian.
Another senior Hayastan member, Ishkhan Saghatelian, last week warned Pashinian against pressing ahead with his plans for the new constitution. He said that the Armenian opposition would “do everything” to turn a possible constitutional referendum on into a popular vote of no confidence in the premier.
