Pashinyan’s statements against the Armenian Church in the European Parliament

The Chairman of the Pan-Armenian Council for the Preservation of the Armenian Church, Harutyun Agha-Sargsyan, has issued a statement regarding remarks made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about the Armenian Church at the European Parliament.

The statement reads:

“From the podium of the European Parliament, Nikol Pashinyan carried out an open and brazen attack against the strongest pillar of Armenian statehood – the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. Instead of defending the interests of the country, he used that prestigious platform for the insidious purpose of desecrating national sanctities and belittling the Church in the eyes of Armenia’s adversaries.

This was not merely another political mistake or an act of ignorance; it was a direct, deliberate, and treacherous blow to the two-thousand-year-old spiritual backbone of the Armenian people. When the so-called leader of the country presents his own Church to foreign audiences as a nest of conspiracies and a threat to national security, he ceases to be merely a political opponent and effectively places himself in the service of those who seek to undermine the identity of the Armenian people.

The Armenian Church is not an ‘agent’s den,’ as those who have sold their souls to foreign interests attempt to portray it. The Armenian Church is the guarantor of the Armenian people’s existence – their memory, their blood, and their inalienable sanctuary. Anyone who slanders that sanctuary on international platforms commits one of the gravest offenses against the state and the nation, undermining the spiritual security of the entire people.

This shameful campaign must be viewed as part of a single destructive chain: as Armenia’s statehood and sovereignty are consistently weakened, the attack has now reached the last bastion of the people’s resistance – the Church. Under the false and repugnant guise of “peace” and “democracy,” a program of national dismantling is being imposed on our people. The campaign against the Armenian Church is not an internal political dispute; it is a treacherous assault on the Armenian nation itself.

We strongly condemn and consider unacceptable this anti-church and anti-national behavior by Nikol Pashinyan. Offering up national sacred values in order to gain external support for attacks on the Church is a pitiful and disgraceful step.

Let it be clearly understood: the Armenian Church is not a political toy of temporary rulers and will never become their sacrificial victim. Anyone who dares to raise a defiling hand against the Mother Church will face the righteous anger of the Armenian people and the merciless judgment of history.

Pashinyan’s statements against the Armenian Church in the European Parliament represent nothing less than the height of national disgrace.

This is no longer merely a dispute between clergy and laity. It is a sacred struggle for our existence, for the Armenian gene, and for our dignity. In such a struggle, silence and compromise are tantamount to surrender.

We will not remain silent. We will not allow it.”