Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan remains in office in defiance of a call by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan for his resignation on 10 May before a massive crowd in Yerevan's Republic Square.

According to one recent report from Armenia, "The police detained citizens conducting civil disobedience in different parts of Yerevan. Among them were also the mother of 2020 Artsakh war hero Arayik Baghdasaryan and the deacon of St. Anna Church in Komitas. The total number of detainees was 48."

In another earlier report, "Police officers have detained more than 50 men who are peacefully protesting and blocking roads in Yerevan."

Threatened invasion by Turkey and Azerbaijan?

More ominously, the Minval news service of Azerbeijan published a piece on 10 May entitled Baku and Ankara may have to put order in Armenia. It labelled Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and his supporters the "Karabakh clan" for wanting to take back the Armenian province or Artsakh, also known as "Nagorno-Karabakh". Artsakh had been ethnically cleansed of Armenians by Azerbaijan following Pashinyan's surrender of that territory in September 2023.

The piece makes no mention of what ignited this most recent upsurge against Pashinyan - Azerbaijan's demand for the annexation of Tavusch province in the north-east of Armenia and Prime Minister Pashinyan, yet again, acting to facilitate the surrender of that land, supposedly to "buy time." The piece also fails to mention that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, has made no secret of his plans to annex all of Armenia, which he labels "West Azerbaijan."

How Armenia can regain its national sovereignty

Whether the goal of the United States is to have Pashinyan allow Armenia to be turned into a small rump state under his rule or be conquered outright by Azerbaijan is unclear. Regardless, neither of these outcomes will be acceptable to any Armenian with any national self-respect. Those Armenians are now left with no choice but to remove from office the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyak by whatever means they are able to and replace that government with a government that is committed to regaining Armenia's national sovereignty.

They could start by resisting those police forces who are attempting to repress them. Perhaps Archbishop Bagrat Gastanyan could call upon those police to refuse to orders to attack patriotic Armenian citizens.

Should Armenia then face the threatened military intervention by Azerbaijan and Turkey or by US forces now inside Armenia, they will need help from the international community. Conceivably neighbouring Iran could help Armenia defend itself, should the threatened invasion eventuate.

Elsewhere, supporters of Armenia should aim to build massive protest movement in support of Armenia. Perhaps those attending the large protests against Israel's genocide in Gaza could be persuaded to also oppose the threatened aggression against Armenia.