PASHINYAN IS PREPARED TO ARREST THE CATHOLICOS: THIS IS PART OF BIGGER PROJECT BY TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN: JOHN EIBNER
Speaking in an interview with “168 Hours”, Dr. John Eibner, an American human rights activist and president of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) human rights organization, stated that the actions by Nikol Pashinyan’s government against the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and the Catholicos of All Armenians are fundamental violations of religious freedom, and the Armenian Prime Minister has no legal business interfering in the internal affairs of the Church.
John Eibner commented on the persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church by Nikol Pashinyan’s government and Pashinyan’s disgraceful “crusade” campaign the head of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and Catholicos of All Armenians, Garegin II.
“He’s gone even a step further and published plans to reform the Church, to change the Church. That’s not his responsibility, that is the responsibility of the Spiritual Counsel of the Apostolic Church, and it’s to be done internally through according the Church law, not by dictate from the Prime Minister. So these are fundamental violations of human rights that, for example, in the United States of here, in Switzerland would be viewed as completely unacceptable for any Church”, human rights activist underlined.
Dr. John Eibner reminded the words by Nikol Pashinyan that the Catholicos is a “threat to national security”, suggesting that Pashinyan tries to create legitimate basis for any kind of actions out of law against the head of the Church.
“What we do know from the Prime Minister himself, he says that the Catholicos is a “national security threat”. I mean, that’s a very heavy charge. He says that the Catholicos is touch with foreign agents, and that the Catholicos “is a spy”. So when it becomes elevated to national security issues then this from the point of view of the state legitimizes any action against those that pose national security threat. So they effectively put the Catholicos and those who are supporting him outside the law, which means that all methods against them become legitimate from their point of view in order to address so-called “national security threat”, and in some ways it actually is a national security threat because the Prime Minister is acting on the basis of threats from Turkey and Azerbaijan. Unless he does these things they will take serious action against Armenia”.
Dr. Eibner does not have a “crystal ball” so he cannot predict clearly what would happen regarding the Pashinyan-Catholicos confrontation, but he thinks that this conflict has reached the state where politically it has become an “existential question” for Nikol Pashinyan, and he has not left any room for compromise.
“If he were to compromise that would be a huge political defeat for him that I don’t know he could recover from. Of course, if the Church loses then it becomes an existential question for the Church. So I believe, when the Prime Minister says that the Catholicos is a “threat national security”, that means that he’s prepared to arrest the Catholicos if necessary to achieve his goals”, John Eibner mentions.
President of Christian Solidarity International believes that the only thing that can prevent that is either that Armenian society itself masters the courage and fortitude to guarantee this not to happen, or that there are his “international backers”, especially in Washington, who say: “Don’t do this”. And let him know that the consequences of these extreme measures will be more than he’d want to pay.
Dr. Eibner thinks that the end goal of Nikol Pashinyan is too obvious: to seize full control over the Armenian Church and expand his power.
“He wants to control, it’s simple as that but there’s of course a bigger picture and it’s not just a personal struggle for power that may be an element too. It’s not that he has a personal problem with the Catholicos, but all of these is part of much project to create the so-called “Real Armenia”, and so what he needs to have in his “Real Armenia” is a Church of a “Real Armenia”. But this is a much bigger project than the domestic politics of Armenia, it has to do with this “Real Armenia” project, and “Real Armenia” must exist, because this is what Turkey and Azerbaijan demand, so the concept of the nation has to be changed to correspond to the interests of Turkey and Azerbaijan. That means persecution of the Church, control over national Church”, John Eibner says.
“He feels he must target the Church because the Church and Catholicos continues to defend the rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Garegin II operates as the Catholicos of All Armenians, those that live in the Republic of Armenia, those that are from Karabakh and Diaspora, and this is completely incompatible with the concept of “Real Armenia”, and so he’s doing his utmost to gain control. In order to gain control, he has to weaken it so that it becomes an instrument in his hands”, he also added.
Dr. John Eibner is a prominent American human rights activist and a good friend of the Armenian nation since the first Karabakh war in early 1990s. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of London.
Recall that during the previous interview with “168 Hours” John Eibner mentioned that Christian Solidarity International is deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Armenia regarding the crisis in Church-State relations and the arrests of the high-ranking clerics and supporters of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.
Interviewed by Aram Sargsyan
