Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to questions about the campaign against the Church during a press conference, asserting that “the actions his government is taking are not against the Armenian Apostolic Church, but rather in its defense.”
“I cannot campaign against the Church. The Armenian Apostolic Church is sacred to me and my family. We cannot act against the Church… What we are doing is for the Church’s sake. And if the Church weren’t sacred to us, we could simply ignore the destructive processes unfolding within it,” Pashinyan stated.
Addressing a question about a curse allegedly issued against him, Pashinyan said: “Are you telling me that people who have broken their vows of celibacy can curse me? I could curse them, but I won’t. I’ve already said that I will lead the process of freeing the Catholicosate from them—no curse needed.”
When asked how exactly he intends to free the Catholicosate, Pashinyan responded, “We will free the Catholicosate just as Armenia was freed from Serzh Sargsyan in 2018.”
He reiterated that if the Armenian Apostolic Church were not sacred to him, he would simply ignore it. “If someone is a true follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, they cannot watch its decline in silence,” he said.
Earlier, Pashinyan declared that “urgent steps must be taken to liberate the Catholicosate and to organize new Catholicos elections.” He added that a “Coordinating Group must be formed to manage the organizational issues of this agenda,” and stated he will personally take responsibility for selecting the first 10 members of this group.
