“ACNIS ReView from Yerevan”. The Civil Contract party club, which came to power (or was brought to power) in 2018 under the banner of velvet, non-violent democratic principles and ideals, has now been unmasked, revealing the true face it had concealed for seven years. It is now unmistakably clear to the entire nation that we have been dealing with a dictatorship all along. Numerous predictions voiced since 2018—that this Turkish-spirited junta came (or was brought) to surrender Artsakh and to divide Armenia, turning its territory into a stepping stone for the age-old Turkish-Azeri dream of a Greater Turan—are no longer mere speculations, but a grim and proven reality.
The most recent example was the national scandal that occurred on June 27 at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin—an event that even the international media covered with a tone of irony. The world witnessed the complete degradation of one of the ancient nations that first embraced Christianity. Who could have imagined that a day would come when someone so alienated from the nation’s roots—someone who harbors deep hostility toward his own country, faith, religion, and traditions—would rise to power in the Republic of Armenia? A petty dictator by nature, obsessed with power, greedy for wealth, and a habitual liar. A man who has never distinguished himself in public service, who has not served in the military, yet excels in eloquent philosophizing.
It is noteworthy that the unprecedented smear campaigns, information terror, and aggressive actions initiated by this individual against the Mother See and the Catholicos intensified just days after his return from a working visit to Turkey. The same man who, only a week earlier, had entered Istanbul’s Blue Mosque barefoot, entered the Armenian Apostolic Church accompanied by obedient agents of the National Security Service, the Police, and the notorious red-beret Special Forces. These forces were instructed to stage a “masked show” while forcibly taking Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, Primate of the Shirak Diocese, to the Investigative Committee.
For the large number of faithful believers who had gathered around the Mother See to show support for the Church and Archbishop Ajapahyan, it was a shocking sight to witness masked special forces armed with batons inside the grounds of the Armenian Apostolic Church—even within the Catholicosate itself. Tensions rose and scuffles broke out as the authorities attempted to detain the Archbishop, with the people physically intervening to prevent his forced removal. Armenian history shows that even foreign invaders never treated the Armenian Apostolic Church with such hostility. It seems that the face of Armenian dictatorship is even more ruthless.
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The inevitable outcome of one-man rule is, naturally, dictatorship. Just look around—prisons are filling with political prisoners, among them billionaires, bishops, priests, high-ranking military officers, and even the unemployed. Following the logic of authoritarian regimes, the list will soon include journalists, political scientists, strategists, and other public figures who influence domestic discourse or dare to speak out against Nikol Pashinyan. In its desperate attempt to cling to power, the junta will stop at nothing—even if it means putting the homeland up for sale. It knows very well that the ground beneath its feet is slipping away.
There is no longer any reliable support left inside the country—no public trust, no ideology, no vision for the future, no prospect. Even the former loyalty of the security and law enforcement bodies is gradually fading. All internal resources are being depleted or have already been exhausted. The regime’s only remaining hope lies in external support—primarily from Turkey, whose influence appears to have directly preceded these waves of repression. Therefore, we must be prepared to resist. We must understand that this is no longer just a political struggle—it is a battle that transcends borders, territory, and institutions. It is the final fight for our identity and very existence.
The Armenian Center for National and International Studies