Azerbaijan’s Islamic Sheikh calls Etchmiadzin “historical Azerbaijani land”

The chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, made a harsh statement about the Armenian Apostolic Church, which hintrd at “the loss of statehood by Armenia.” He called Etchmiadzin “Uchmiadzin, historical Azerbaijani land.” He also uttered a series of absurdities unbecoming of a clergyman.

“The sole goal of the religious center of Armenians, who, with false ideas about the history of Christianity, present themselves as an exclusive community, the first Christians in the world, was to support an Armenian utopia like “Greater Armenia.” We are confronted by a community that, through numerous forgeries, has been appropriating the cultural and spiritual heritage of other peoples, and through its religious centers, Uchmiadzin and Cilicia, have been spreading messages full of lies and slander throughout the world, far from the tenets of peace, brotherhood, and peaceful coexistence of the Christian religion, constantly preaching division, hostility, revanchism, and confrontation for the sake of realizing its utopian dream.

“States and circles that are interested in believing the Armenian lie are providing them with support and assistance in this matter. Yes, the reality is this: global Armenians, relying on the Armenian National Church, continue to deceive the international community with their historical and political hypocrisy.

“Their goal is that if the Armenian state is destroyed due to political incompetence, the Armenian National Church will be able to continue the mission of a mobilization center, to create and lead a Gregorian religious state like the Vatican. Thus, the Armenian Church has a cunning intention to continue its existence in our historical lands in one way or another. This is a great threat to all the countries neighboring Armenia in the region.”