Armenian Church Head Indicted After Pashinyan’s Threats

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin calls for an immediate review of the illegal decisions made against the Armenian Patriarch, six bishops and the secretary of the Supreme Spiritual Council, which divides our society and belittles the reputation and authority of our homeland.”

The statement did not say whether the Sankt Polten meeting will be canceled or held via video link.

The conference was originally scheduled to take place in Echmiadzin from December 10-12. Karekin postponed it because of what the Mother See described as “repressions against clergy.” Critics say Pashinyan wants to prevent the rescheduled meeting because it would almost certainly demonstrate that the Catholicos continues to enjoy the top clergy’s backing despite the Armenian premier’s eight-month campaign to depose him.

Pashinyan indicated his intention to scuttle the conference on February 13, when he reacted furiously to a joint statement by eight prominent members of the Armenian communities in the United States and Europe condemning his “attacks” on the church. They also stressed the significance of the planned ecclesiastical meeting in Austria. (See statement on page 18.)

“The whole thing is about taking the Catholicosate out of Armenia, and I will not allow that. If additional measures need to be taken for that, they will be taken,” Pashinyan told reporters.

“I want to warn some representatives of the Diaspora that their involvement in this plot is seriously undermining Armenia’s state security and the Republic of Armenia is not going to stand by and look on,” he said. “There were going to be a very tough response.”

Pashinyan’s critics portrayed the threats as further proof that he is violating an Armenian constitutional provision guaranteeing the church’s separation from the state and illegally directing the actions of law-enforcement authorities.

Three other archbishops and one bishop of the Armenian Church were arrested on various charges last year amid Pashinyan’s efforts to depose Karekin. They all reject the accusations as politically motivated. Two of them were moved to house arrest earlier this year. The Catholicos has refused to step down despite the crackdown that has also targeted some of his relatives.

Pashinyan began his campaign last May right after Karekin accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, destroying the region’s Armenian churches and illegally occupying Armenian border areas during an international conference in Switzerland. The premier’s detractors say he wants to please Azerbaijan or neutralize a key source of opposition to his unilateral concessions to Armenia’s arch-foe.

Pashinyan said until December that Karekin and other top clerics at odds with him must go because they had secret sexual relations in breach of their vows of celibacy. He has given different reasons for his campaign since then, accusing them of spying for a foreign country, presumably Russia. He has not offered any proof of the allegation publicly dismissed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on January 20.

The premier appeared to have again changed the stated reason for his campaign in response to Thursday’s statement by the eight prominent Diaspora Armenians based in the US and Europe. The signatories of the statement included four wealthy businessmen and philanthropists.

Another Diaspora benefactor, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, was arrested in June right after condemning Pashinyan’s drive to east Karekin and pledging to defend the church “in our way.” Following his arrest Karapetian set up an opposition group which is expected to be one of the main contenders in Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections.