Department of State’s religious freedom report not unbiased – opinions
15:28 * 31.07.14
The US Department of State’s 2013 Religious Freedom Report on Armenia
is estimated as biased and untrue by religious circles and national
minority representatives.
What particularly raises controversies is the allegation that minority
religious groups face discriminations against the backdrop of wide
privileges granted to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
“Religious organizations are obliged to preserve and protect their own
belief instead of engaging themselves in soul hunting. Nobody prevents
them from pursuing their own belief. Such a statement could have been
made only by individuals, circles and groups that are interested in
destabilizing of Armenia and contributing to the Armenian nation’s
internal splitting. What is mentioned there is absolutely untrue,”
Archimandrite Komitas Hovnanyan told Tert.am, expressing his strong
disagreement with the findings.
He said he is more than convinced that increased privileges to
religious organizations are a major national security threat. “There
are, so to say, religious minorities whose propaganda is based on
plans to split the state institution. The youth, for instance, are
called upon to avoid serving in the military, using weapons or
protecting their country,” he noted.
Commenting on what the report described as privileges to the Armenian
Apostolic Church, Mr Hovnanyan said, “The Armenian Apostolic Church
does not actually have any privileges at all. It just follows that the
publications on the Armenian Church contain no wrong records. The
history of Armenian church is taught in schools by secular [teachers]
not priests,” he added.
Hovnanyan said he believes that countries publishing such reports
pursue specific interests, adding that Armenian state in turn is
obliged to protect its own interests in such circumstances. “We must
not let anyone speculate the concepts of freedom of conscience or
speech by distorting their meaning. Freedom of conscience implies
freedom of individual, not violence and coercion into adopting a
belief of which the nation is not a follower,” he added.
Alexander Amaryan, the president of the Rehabilitation Center for
Victims of Destructive Sects, agreed that granting wide privileges to
the non-traditional religious groups is a threat to national security.
“All the data the Department of State publishes in the report are
provided by local rights institutions which submit biased reports in
an effort to extort grants. No other country is as tolerant as
Armenia, as the laws here never place restrictions on religious
organizations,” he added.
Amaryan said he thinks that restrictions exist in Europe not in
Armenia, adding that the national churches in all countries enjoy
certain privileges. “They all have begun assisting religious
organizations and later complain about intolerance. That’s a bluff,”
he said, describing the findings as an attempt to exert pressure on
the Armenian authorities.
Aziz Tamoyan, the president of Armenia’s Yezidi community, also
disagreed with the allegation that ethnic and religious minorities
experience discrimination in the country. “We are free; nobody
prevents us from preserving our national holidays and traditions. On
the contrary, we here have our own schools, and it is thanks to
Armenia that our culture develops around the world,” he said, adding
that the Armenian Apostolic Church demonstrates respect for the
Yezidis’ traditions.
“Why doesn’t [the United States of] America care about the
disappearing Yezidi and Asyrian populations in the north of Iraq? Let
them think of measures to prevent their Yezidis from changing their
religion, as they are physically exterminated by Muslims,” Tamoyan
noted.
The Jewish community’s president, Rima Varzhapetyan, also denied the
reports about restrictions or violations against minority groups in
Armenia.
Asked whether the community is concerned about the privileges granted
to the national church, Varzhapetyan replied, “The Armenian Apostolic
Church has always proven that it is very tolerant and progressive.”
According to Avetik Iskhanyan, Chairperson of the Helsinki Committee
of Armenia, the report is based on objective evaluations.
“Religious tolerance is really quite a serious issue in Armenia, as
the media all the time conduct a one-sided propaganda. In secondary
schools, the history of Armenian church is taught in an effort to
conduct an anti-propaganda against other religious organizations. The
children who receive such kind of education develop intolerance to
other religious organizations,” he noted.
Asked whether it isn’t normal that the Armenian Apostolic Church has
privileges as opposed to other religious groups, Ishkhanyan said,
“International standards allow for granting privileges to a church,
but that should not amount to a discriminatory attitude to other
religious organizations. Our laws give the Apostolic Church
monopolistic rights,” he added.
Asked whether higher privileges for other religious organizations
would not be a national security threat, Ishkhanyan said he thinks
just the other way about. “Religious intolerance is a real threat to
Armenia’s security, as it splits up the nation on religious grounds,”
he noted.
“Representatives of other religious organizations are oppressed in
Armenia, because they never see themselves as full-fledged citizens.
This is really a national security threat, because identifying an
Armenian with the Armenian Apostolic Church really splits up the
nation.”
Armenian News – Tert.am