Will people in Armenia finally wake up when Pashinyan orders the Catholicos’ arrest?
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has spent the past several months trying to pressure Catholicos Karekin II into resigning — when Armenia’s constitution clearly states that there must be a separation of church and state. Yet government officials are meddling in the church’s internal affairs.
When the Catholicos refused to resign, Pashinyan found another approach to pressure those he deemed as “corrupt.” Using the cover of legality, he is now making the spurious excuse that the Catholicos violated an Armenian law by urging clergymen to participate in an anti-Pashinyan protest. This cannot be a criminal act; on the contrary, it is protected freedom of expression, which is one of the pillars of democracy.
Pashinyan recently boasted in Parliament that, since the people are not rising to oppose his policies, they must agree with him. Yet, there are those in Armenia who protest or disagree with him and are fired from their jobs, arrested and jailed. While his opponents who live in the diaspora were banned from entering Armenia. He first silences opposition and then claims that the people support him. This is the “democracy” that he has brought to Armenia.
Pashinyan is forgetting that a majority of Armenians, both in the homeland and the diaspora, are followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which means the millions of church supporters far outnumber his dwindling number of backers.
In recent months, two Archbishops were arrested, the philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, and several others on charges that have been called into question. Earlier this month, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was sentenced to two years in jail for allegedly calling for a coup. Last week, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, the Primate of the Aragatsotn Diocese and nephew of the Catholicos was arrested, along with a dozen priests and staff members. This followed searches of church properties and their homes on the unfounded accusation of a disgruntled clergyman who claimed that the Bishop had urged him to participate in an anti-Pashinyan rally in 2021. These arrests aim to discourage others from opposing Pashinyan.
The Armenian Apostolic Church condemned last week’s illegal arrests in a statement, describing the government’s actions as “repressions,” on the Armenian Church and likening them to “characteristic of totalitarian regimes.” The three Primates of Canada and the Eastern and Western United States issued a joint statement criticizing the Armenian government for arresting Bishop Proshyan and expressing support for the Catholicos.
With parliamentary elections planned for next June, the Prime Minister is attempting to eliminate potential rivals and clear the field of opponents.
In Armenia, the courts claim to be independent of the government; yet, it seems like the judges carry out Pashinyan’s orders. We should not forget when Pashinyan declared, “I am the government.”
To make matters worse, some are urging the government to expell Robert Amsterdam, a well-known U.S.-based international lawyer, who is in Armenia to defend Samvel Karapetyan. Amsterdam has stated: “This was a tremendous attack on the fabric of the country…It runs entirely against the grain of Armenian history, history and it’s just plain bad politics.” Meanwhile, the Armenian government arrested Alexander Kochubaev last week, the lawyer for jailed Archbishop Bakrat Galstanyan, for criticizing the judiciary. The International Commission of Jurists strongly condemned his arrest.
The government’s anti-Church actions appear to be a prelude to bringing criminal charges against the Catholicos himself in order to replace him with a more submissive clergyman. Meanwhile, Azeris are applauding the arrests of high-ranking Armenian clergymen, whom they label “revanchists.” The Azerbaijani media continues attacks on the Armenian Church, emboldened by comments reportedly made by Azerbaijan’s Sheikh-ul-Islam, Allashukur Pashazadeh.
Haykakan Jamanak, a newspaper founded by Prime Minister Pashinyan, disclosed last week a recording of a 2023 phone call between the former staff-bearer of the Catholicos and Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan in which they discussed the alleged pressure exerted by the Catholicos on clergy to take part in an anti-Pashinyan rally.
Following the release of that recording, the government’s Investigative Committee announced that “Criminal Proceedings” had been initiated.
I would like to make two observations:
- Since this phone call was recorded in 2023, why did the government keep it for two years and is releasing it only now? The answer is: It was waiting for the optimum opportunity to use the phone call as evidence against the Catholicos.
- Secretly recording anyone’s phone conversation is illegal; I am not aware of any court order.
If the Catholicos is arrested and imprisoned in the near future, will the people of Armenia finally wake up and defend the Church, or will they remain in their self-imposed coma?
Those who are urging Armenians to do nothing and wait for next year’s parliamentary elections are running the risk that, by then, Armenia may cease to exist.
All those who are now violating the laws and engaging in anti-Armenian activities should be held criminally responsible and punished by the next patriotic government of Armenia.
During the blockade of Artsakh in 2023 while the Artsakhsis were starving and lacking heat and electricity there was an earthquake in Turkey. Pashinyan sent Armenian rescuers to help the Turks but did nothing to help end the blockade of the Lachin Corridor. This ended up culminating in the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. Now instead of standing up to the Azerbaijani dictator, Pashinyan acquiesces to Aliyev’s absurd demands and attacks the clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
There is clearly something wrong here. Either Pashinyan is mentally ill or he is a Turk. Accordingly he should have a CT scan of the head and complete neurological and psychiatric examinations to look for a brain tumor or cognitive disorders. He should then undergo DNA testing to see if he is in fact a Turk.
One would expect that an Armenian policeman baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church would refuse to carry out an order to arrest the Cathilicos.
Archtraitor Pashinyan’s persecution and his attempt to neutralize and fully control the Armenian Apostolic Church, reeks of collusion with Azerbaijan and Turkey, in order to get rid of every patriotic opposition to his treachery, to his autocratic rule and to his constant appeasement of these two irredentist predatory Turkic wolves. The hostile and inflammatory language used by Pashinyan, by his cronies and by his press against the Armenian Apostolic Church, is identical to that of his overlords Aliyev and Erdogan and the Azerbaijani and Turkish press, which are of course government-controlled. How long will the Armenian people tolerate Pashinyan’s treachery and Armenia’s downhill slide to becoming a defenseless puppet state of Azerbaijan and Turkey?
On top of the arrest spree of the clergy, Pashinyan is now planning to strip Shoghakat TV of its license, thus shut it down. Other media tied to the Armenian Apostolic Church, will very likely be next. Pashinyan’s onslaught and crackdown against the Armenian Apostolic Church, is persecution and is his version of attempted “Gleichschaltung” of every Armenian institution, opposition political party and NGO, who oppose his autocracy and his neverending appeasement of the two Turkic archenemies. Pashinyan’s “Gleichschaltung”, his plans to rig the 2026 elections and his quest to rule Armenia for life, is the playbook of every dictator and aspiring dictator. (Just type in the word “Gleichschaltung” in the search engine.)