Yerevan: On Sunday, thousands of Armenians gathered to protest against the government, calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation due to territorial concessions made to neighboring Azerbaijan.
The protests began last month after the Armenian government agreed to cede territory to Azerbaijan, land it had controlled since the 1990s. This area is strategically significant for Armenia, a landlocked country, as it includes key sections of a vital highway to Georgia.
Residents of nearby Armenian settlements argue that this decision isolates them from the rest of the country and accuses Pashinyan of relinquishing territory without any benefit in return.
Bagrat Galstanyan, a charismatic and outspoken clergyman who has become the leader of the growing anti-government movement, was named on Sunday as the opposition’s preferred candidate to replace Pashinyan as prime minister.
Gurgen Melikyan, a former dean at Yerevan State University and a well-known public intellectual, announced the news to tens of thousands gathered in Yerevan’s central Republic Square.
“For a month, we held meetings with representatives from all sectors, including political parties and public entities, to select a candidate for prime minister. The vast majority agreed that person should be Archbishop Bagrat,” Melikyan said. Galstanyan then urged his supporters to engage in acts of civil disobedience across Yerevan starting Monday morning to paralyze city traffic.
Galstanyan stated that he had asked Catholicos Garegin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to “freeze my 30-year spiritual service” so that he could enter politics.
The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the church’s governing body, has not yet commented on the matter.
Following the rally, Galstanyan led thousands of demonstrators to the gated residential area where Pashinyan and his family live, demanding a private meeting with the prime minister.