Austrian weekly Die Furche has published a sharply one-sided article targeting Catholicos Karekin II and the Armenian Apostolic Church, portraying Pashinyan’s campaign against the Church primarily through allegations of Russian influence. Published on June 3, four days before Armenia’s parliamentary election, the article appeared under the headline “Armenia elections: Pashinyan against Putin’s patriarch.”
Journalist Susanne Glass writes that after Karekin II repeatedly denied having been a KGB agent, she was left with the impression that his relationship with Russian intelligence might nevertheless be close. His denial is effectively turned into grounds for further suspicion, while Russian state decorations he has received are presented in a way that reinforces the same narrative without establishing evidence of ties to Russian intelligence.
The article recasts Pashinyan’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church as a story about Moscow, while downplaying the pressure directed at the Church itself.
That campaign has included criminal cases and arrests targeting senior clergy, direct attacks against Catholicos Karekin II and openly stated efforts by Pashinyan’s government to remove him from office and interfere in the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Armenian lawyer Ruben Melikyan has written to Die Furche’s editorial staff, accusing the outlet of violating basic journalistic standards and demanding an apology.
Melikyan described the headline as defamatory and deeply offensive to members of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He warned that without an apology, he would regard Die Furche and Glass as propagandists rather than journalists, comparing their approach to “propagandists in the mold of Goebbels.”
Glass is a senior German journalist who heads foreign affairs and political-background coverage at Bayerischer Rundfunk, part of Germany’s ARD public broadcasting network. She previously headed ARD’s Tel Aviv bureau and spent years reporting from Vienna on Austria and Southeast Europe.
