The Armenian Parliament spoke about the possibility of depriving the church of independence

The Armenian Church may be deprived of independence as a result of its conflict with the authorities, Gegham Manukyan, a deputy from the opposition Armenia faction, told Izvestia.

War for Faith: Armenian security forces tried to detain Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan

Scuffles break out between priests and police at the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians

"Everything is to be expected. They [the authorities] are preparing to discuss amendments to the constitution at the request of Azerbaijan. We are sure that one of the points will be to remove the mention of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) so that it would not be independent," he said.

The conflict between the Armenian authorities and religious organizations, which has been going on for several years, is taking on new momentum. On the morning of June 27, more than 30 security forces broke into the building of the Shirak Diocese to arrest its head, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan. At lunch, the archbishop agreed to go to the Investigative Committee and take part in the investigative actions.

Earlier, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan was detained. Before him, Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian businessman and head of the Tashir Group of companies.