YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am) — The Armenian Apostolic Church accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday, July 21, of planning a violent attack on its Echmiadzin headquarters one day after he urged supporters to get ready to remove Catholicos Karekin II from there.
Pashinyan has been pressuring Karekin to resign, saying that the latter had fathered a child in breach of his vows of celibacy. His detractors say that he is simply trying to please Azerbaijan and/or neutralize a key source of opposition to his unilateral concessions to Armenia’s arch-foe.
In a weekend appeal to his supporters, Pashinyan pledged to “free” the Echmiadzin seat of the Catholicos, which is part of the town of Vagharshapat, from Karekin.
“We will do this together. Be ready,” he wrote on Facebook.
In a follow-up post, Pashinyan said they should specifically gear up for a rally in Vagharshapat’s central square adjacent to the church’s Mother See. He did not give a date for the gathering. Citing unnamed government sources, the newspaper Hraparak said that it is planned for Tuesday.
Karekin’s office responded by condemning Pashinyan’s appeals as an “attempt to incite attacks and violence.”
