Pashinyan Orders His Gestapo to Invade The Sacred Grounds of Holy Etchmiadzin — By Harut Sassounian

Last week, for the second time in recent months, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan dispatched hundreds of police officers and undercover agents in civilian clothing to invade the sacred grounds of Holy Etchmiadzin. They are supposed to serve the public, not Pashinyan’s personal interests. They should not obey unlawful orders. Regrettably, Pashinyan now has more police officers acting as his bodyguards than soldiers defending Armenia’s borders.

Once again, the police were forced to retreat from Etchmiadzin when faced with a very large crowd that had come to defend the Armenian Apostolic Church from the unwelcome intruders. So far the score is: Church 2, Pashinyan 0.

When Pashinyan first assumed power in 2018, he used to come to the Prime Minister’s office on a bicycle, alone: no bodyguards, no security, and no police. Since then, the minute he puts one foot out the door of his headquarters, he is shielded by hundreds of police officers. The fears for his security are triggered by his sinking popularity from 82% in 2018 to a little over 10% now. He refuses to resign because he knows that when he is no longer in office, he will be held responsible for violating hundreds of laws as well as the constitution. The next patriotic and competent leader will have to declare null and void all of Pashinyan’s promises and concessions to Armenia’s enemies.

Last Thursday, more than 10,000 faithful defenders of the Armenian Apostolic Church who had gathered in Etchmiadzin confronted the dissenting bishops with chants of “Judas”. The Church followers outnumbered Pashinyan’s supporters by a factor of 20 to 1, despite the fact that he had ordered his partisans, including party members and government employees, to go to Etchmiadzin. Since over 90% of the population in Armenia and the Diaspora are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Pashinyan’s small number of followers does not stand a chance against them. By opposing the Church, he has unwittingly laid the ground for a growing movement against his rule, thus finally awakening the apathetic public.

What Pashinyan has done is very dangerous, with potentially bloody consequences. A clash between his dispatched hundreds of security forces and the much larger crowd could have resulted in dozens of casualties on both sides.

There was no reason for Pashinyan to send so many police officers to Etchmiadzin to defend the small group of dissident bishops who had announced that they were going to the Church headquarters to demand the resignation of the Catholicos. Once again, Pashinyan meddled in an internal Church dispute which is none of his business, thus violating the constitutional provision of separation of Church and State.

Last week, Catholicos Karekin II removed three of the dissenting clergymen from the Church’s 21-member Supreme Spiritual Council. In my view that is not sufficient. The Armenian Apostolic Church should immediately defrock all 10 dissident bishops because they have violated several Church regulations. They cannot and should not remain members of the Armenian clergy. After being defrocked, they can visit Etchmiadzin as regular tourists.

It is unbelievable that these dissident clergymen are complaining for the first time in decades, claiming after 26 years that Catholicos Karekin II was elected fraudulently in 1999. What prompted them to wake up now and raise this issue 26 years later? Many of them were present during that election and even voted for Karekin II. In the meantime, they have enjoyed the perks that come with their high offices in the Church as bishops, archbishops, and primates. Rather than trying to force the Catholicos to resign, the dissident bishops are the ones who should resign before they are defrocked.

These dissident clergymen are opposing the Catholicos only now because the National Security Service, at Pashinyan’s instigation, has probably met with some of them and threatened to expose to the public the secrets of their private lives. Ironically, while Pashinyan is saying that he is opposed to the Catholicos on moral grounds, he is planning to replace him with one of the 10 dissident bishops, several of whom have committed much more serious transgressions. Rather than reforming the Armenian Church, Pashinyan is harming it by planning to bring an unsavory character as a replacement.

It is obvious that Pashinyan’s aim is simply political in advance of next June’s parliamentary elections. He is trying to eliminate all those who may be an obstacle to his reappointment as Prime Minister by replacing or prosecuting his opponents.

Last week, Pashinyan stated that he is willing to meet with the Catholicos, “but only to discuss a plan for the Catholicos’ dignified resignation.” This is not an approach that can lead to a peaceful resolution. The Catholicos can respond by saying, “I will meet with Pashinyan only to discuss his resignation.”

I suggest that the two meet without any preconditions to resolve the State vs. Church conflict as soon as possible for the good of both the State and Church — the two main pillars of the Armenian nation.