Hovsep Der Kevorkian, a member of the World Bureau of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsoutyun, is one of the guests on the programme “Cartes sur table” on 14 June 2025, presented by Mariette Gharapetian, which deals with current affairs in Armenia and the various attacks on the Armenian Apostolic Church by both Prime Minister Nikol Pashynyan and Azerbaijan.
A campaign that started in 2018 as soon as Nikol Pashinyan became Prime Minister
According to Der Kevorkian, the attacks on the Church are neither accidental nor incidental. The slogan ‘New Armenia, New Catholicos’ was not merely the expression of revolutionary euphoria. It was a deliberate programme. And that programme began the moment Nikol Pashinyan came to power.
“With this slogan he tried to destabilise and weaken the Church in various ways, but without success. Why? First of all, we must say that this is indeed a tragedy, because today we are experiencing the most serious days for the Fatherland and for Syunik, and the most important days. We know what is happening in Iran, we know what impact all this can have on Syunik, and it is not surprising because we have learnt that a few weeks ago, a few days ago, the United States of America gave the terms of an ultimatum to Iran and that this ultimatum has ended. While we, on the other hand, last week, instead of uniting and confronting these dangers, we – Armenia as a state, as a nation – waited every day until 8.30 in the morning to see what madness, what vulgar post our Prime Minister would write. So the goal is clear, the goal is very clear,” he stated bluntly.
The political leader speaks of an organised process: Pashinyan first tried to discredit the ecclesiastical hierarchy by systematically associating it with the old regime. This is no coincidence. It’s a strategy.
A Campaign Waged From Both Inside and Outside
What’s more, Hovsep Der Kevorkian mentions a disturbing convergence of attacks from both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Sheikh Pashazadeh, a religious authority in Baku, took the liberty of directly insulting His Holiness Karekin II. At almost the same time, Anna Hakobyan, wife of the Prime Minister, criticised the Catholicos in the press. It’s an orchestration.
“But we can go even further, because Nikol Pashinyan wants to change the mentality, the essence of Armenians, the values of Armenian society. For him there is nothing sacred, there are no national values. Nikol Pashinyan wants to tear the Church and Armenians away from their past, he wants to turn them into obedient, submissive structures and people, he wants to prepare us by facilitating the implementation of the Turkisation programme, and then we will no longer have any opposition, nothing, we will no longer oppose this programme.”
The tone becomes even more serious:
“These attempts, I must also say, have been happening throughout this year, they have also been happening throughout our history, even from Vardanants. In their time, so did the Tsarist authorities.”
Der Kevorkian goes further, describing it as a foreign construct:
“This is not an Armenian idea. It is a policy of cultural annihilation imported from outside. It is a Turkish concept being implemented by Armenian hands.”
Vulnerability on All Fronts: Domestic and Foreign
Hovsep Der Kevorkian made a connection between internal fragility and growing external threats.
“The Russian-Ukrainian war and its consequences have now been joined by the Israeli-Persian war, or rather the Israeli attack. This is very worrying. Iran, an ally country where we have an Armenian colony and where we have been present for a thousand years, is under attack, and that is very worrying. It is very worrying, and we can assume that if this war continues over the coming weeks and Iran is weakened, yes, the taking of Sjunik by Azerbaijan and Israel will lead to the weakening of Iran too. This grand plan could have tragic consequences for us. And let me say that if Iran is weakened in the region, Azerbaijan and Turkey will automatically become stronger. It is very important for us that the problems in the region are resolved through negotiations and not through military action.”
Hovsep Der Kevorkian added that separating Iran from Armenia would also be tantamount to weakening Iran, since it would be a major blow to Iran and the weakening of that country was part of the plan. He warned of the danger of a major war:
“However, an important question arises: if we talk about all this, on the one hand, we see that Nikol Pashinyan, like the tabloid journalists, writes scandalous posts and so on, with such an approach to Armenia’s internal affairs, to the problems of Church-nation-State, Church-nation and Church, all this contributes to division, whereas today we need unity. Several states held Security Council meetings yesterday. So far, at least as I understand it, no Security Council meeting has been held in Armenia. Is the Armenian army carrying out any military exercises today? Is the Armenian army ready to resist today? In recent weeks we have seen the military exercises taking place in Azerbaijan, with Pakistan and Turkey, which are all worrying and could be preparations for the conquest of Syunik. I hope that in a few weeks’ time we won’t be talking about this here. As for the extent to which the Armenian state, the Armenian people, are now aware of these dangers and what measures they are taking, I think that should concern us all.”
Full Support for the Catholicos and the Church
Der Kevorkian reaffirms his party’s unwavering support for the Church and for His Holiness Karekin II:
“The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsoutioun cannot remain silent, and we must first clarify this point. Because today, there are many who will try to hide behind their own fingers and do not wish to express a clear position. The A.R.F. Dashnaktsoutioun, with its family, with its structures, cannot accept such attempts, such attacks. And throughout history, as I said a moment ago, just as at the time of the tsarist authorities when the tsarist authorities were trying to seize the property of the Armenian Church, the A.R.F. Dashnaktsoutioun, with the leadership of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsoutioun, even at the highest level, including Rostom, with all its organisation, its structure, therefore, with all its capacity, the A.R.F. Dashnaktsoutioun worked to foil this plan.”
He recalls the Catholicos’s recent return from the UAE:
“He was greeted at the airport by hundreds of faithful. Despite the insults, despite the campaign, faith endures. That rooted community is our greatest hope. That people must be defended.”
“A State Without an Ideology Is Doomed”
In his conclusion, the World Bureau of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsoutyun member noted that the persecution of the Church was part of a wider agenda. He criticised the authorities’ policy of capitulation.
“What do we want at the end of the day? We need a national idea and a state with a national ideology, because all these ideologies are lies, they are corrupt, and Nikol’s current government claims that in order to survive we have to find a compromise in the region, submit and abandon our goals and demands. But no, there may be an unspeakable peace, but it is the peace of the grave.”
He concluded with a warning:
“The only way for the Armenian people to survive in this region is through a nation-state. Exactly a national state, not just a state, but exactly a national state. Because if we have no state, no army, no state apparatus, no strong economy, no cadres, no statesmen who can lead the country professionally and at their level, we cannot survive as a state in this region. The state is very important. We have seen in the Middle East that even organisations, however powerful they may be, even more powerful than states, but they did not have a state, they were not states. And the state has value these days, with its army, its economy, its diplomacy. Because the role of organisations reaches a point where it ends. States are major players in international political life. But states alone are not enough. The state must be national, in our country, in our region, because today… yesterday and today, for Turkey and other powers in the region who have an imperial approach, which has imperial goals, for them we, small nations, for them today, tomorrow we are playing cards, the day after tomorrow we can be, let’s say, a thing in big accounts, yes, small stock cards…
If we don’t become a national state, if we don’t achieve our objectives, our desires, then we will dissolve in this region and disappear, and tomorrow we will become Turks, for example, we could become Persians, we could become Russians, we could dissolve into different states or civilisations, if we are not a nation. I come back to this: would we have survived the Vardanant War if we had not had a national state? We would certainly have had a state to live in peace, but we would have ceased to be Armenians.”
Hovsep Der Kevorkian’s interview sheds light on the deep rifts running through Armenian society. Through the figure of the Church, a whole section of national identity is called into question. In a country still scarred by the war of 2020, the temptation to break with the past is strong. But for some, this break could prove fatal.
Far from being a simple clerical quarrel, the debate surrounding the Church raises some of the most fundamental questions: what does it mean to be Armenian today? Can the state be rebuilt without its spiritual and historical foundations? And how far can we go into making concessions without dissolving ourselves?
Main source: aypfm.com