Trump shouldn’t be fooled by Armenia’s corrupt and malicious prime minister

For Armenia, the first nation to adopt Christianity as its religion in 301 A.D., the stakes cannot be any higher. The country is facing total annihilation at the hands of its belligerent neighbors, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which are interested in recreating the Ottoman Empire. Its own leadership is acquiescing to them.

The current prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is jailing and punishing his political detractors, including the leadership of its oldest institution, the Armenian Apostolic Church.

On October 3, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, the Primate of the Shirak Diocese, was sentenced to two years in prison for speaking out on the prime minister’s policies. Dozens of other church leaders have been arrested and await sentencing.

There are at least two reasons why the Trump administration should distance itself from Pashinyan.

First, Pashinyan’s domestic policy track record has been disastrous, and those regarding Artsakh is viewed as defeatist by most people in Armenia and the diaspora of Armenian Americans. Armenian Americans voted overwhelmingly for the Trump-Vance ticket in November 2024. If the Armenian voters perceive the administration’s support of Pashinyan as one leading to sacrificing Armenia’s interests to those of oil-rich Azerbaijan and strategically important Turkey, they may lose hope.

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