Will People in Armenia Finally Wake Up When Pashinyan Orders Catholicos’ Arrest? — By Harut Sassounian

By Harut Sassounian
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has spent the past several months trying to pressure Catholicos Karekin II into resigning, thereby violating Armenia’s constitution which forbids government officials from meddling in the Church’s internal affairs.

When the Catholicos refused to resign, Pashinyan found another approach to force him out, 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 up to oppose his policies, they must be in agreement with him. The fact is that those in Armenia who protest or disagree with him are fired from their jobs, arrested, and jailed, while his opponents who live in the Diaspora are banned from entering Armenia. He first silences them and then claims that the people support him. This is the “democracy” that he has brought to Armenia.

Pashinyan is forgetting that over 90% 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, Pashinyan ordered the arrests of two Archbishops, the philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, and several others on fabricated charges. Earlier this month, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was sentenced to two years in jail for allegedly calling for a coup. Last week, Pashinyan also arrested Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, the Primate of the Aragatzotn Diocese and nephew of the Catholicos, and a dozen priests and staff members, following 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, describing the government’s actions as “repressions on the Armenian Church,” and likening them to “typical 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 clearly attempting to eliminate potential rivals and clear the field of opponents.

In Armenia, the courts are not independent of the government; the judges carry out Pashinyan’s orders. We should not forget that when Pashinyan first came to power in 2018, he arrogantly declared, “Is there such a judge who will not do what I say?”

To make matters worse, Pashinyan’s circle is urging the government to arrest Robert Amsterdam, a well-known US-based international lawyer, who is in Armenia to defend Samvel Karapetyan. Amsterdam had stated: “We will carry out an attack against Armenia every day until they release Samvel Karapetyan.” He later clarified that he meant international legal and political pressure, not physical actions. Meanwhile, the Armenian government arrested last week Alexander Kochubaev, 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 Azeri attacks on the Armenian Church are spearheaded by Azerbaijan’s Sheikh-ul-Islam, Allashukur Pashazadeh.

Haykakan Jamanak, a newspaper owned 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” have been initiated.

I would like to make two observations:

1) 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.

2) 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 in 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.