Kevork Hagopjian - Armenia’s Church-State Showdown | Ep 504, Jan 13, 2026

Episode Summary

Kevork Hagopjian joins us to explain his thesis that Armenia’s current church-state standoff is a rule-of-law test. We discuss what the Constitution and international human-rights law require, why executive pressure on Etchmiadzin crosses a legal bright line, and how prosecutions, detentions, and scandal narratives can become tools of institutional control. We also examine the Bern conference on Artsakh, foreign pressure and narrative management, and the longer-term risk that a playbook used against the Church can later be applied to other independent institutions in Armenia.