- EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 25/Jun 23:07

Church-State Feud In Armenia Takes A Detour To Crazy Town

(Eurasianet) -- The feud between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church is plumbing the depths of schoolyard crudeness. There’s long been bad blood between the prime minister and church leaders. But in early June, Pashinyan initiated a bout of public trash talking by questioning whether the Church’s prelate, Karekin II, had fathered a child in violation of his vow of celibacy. Acrimony simmered for the next few weeks until June 24, when an aide to Karekin II brought things to a full boil with a social media post (since blocked by moderators) alleging that Pashinyan is circumcised and therefore not a devout Christian. Pashinyan quickly took the taunt’s bait and responded on his official Facebook page by inviting Church leaders over to his office for a personal inspection of his genitals to prove his devoutness. He closed out the post by renewing his call for Karekin II to confirm or deny his paternity allegation. “Does he have a child or not?” Pashinyan asked. Judging by the public reaction to the exchange, Armenian citizens have had enough of the childish bickering. “Everything has its limits, stop this nonsense!” one social media poster responded to Pashinyan’s comments. The general consensus seems to be that Pashinyan’s behavior is bringing shame onto himself, and Armenia. The self-inflicted damage to his image stands to make it harder for Pashinyan to sell his plan to transform Armenian society, dubbed the Real Armenia program. The plan, which calls on Armenians focus on the future and accept a peace deal with Azerbaijan to settle over three decades of conflict, faces broad public skepticism. Findings of a public opinion poll released June 22 show that over two-thirds of Armenians do not believe it is possible for Armenia to normalize relations with Azerbaijan.