Author: Tambiyan Samvel

Armenians around the world commemorate 107th anniversary of Armenian Genocide

Tambiyan Samvel

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 07:35,

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS. Today, on April 24th, Armenians around the world commemorate the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Genocide – the systematic and premeditated killings of over 1,5 million Armenians, was perpetrated by the government of Young Turks in various regions of the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1915 during WWI.

The term Genocide was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, whose family was one of the victims of the Holocaust. By defining this term, Prof. Lemkin sought to describe Nazi politics of systematic murder, violence and cruelty and atrocities committed against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as well.

The first international reaction to the violence resulted in a joint statement by France, Russia and Great Britain, in May 1915, where the Turkish atrocities directed against the Armenian people was defined as “new crime against humanity and civilization” agreeing that the Turkish government must be punished for committing such crimes. 

When WWI erupted, the Young Turks government, hoping to save the remains of the weakened Ottoman Empire, adopted a policy of Pan Turkism – the establishment of a mega Turkish empire comprising of all Turkic-speaking peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia extending to China, intending also to Turkify all ethnic minorities of the empire. The Armenian population became the main obstacle standing in the way of the realization of this policy. 

Although the decision for the deportation of all Armenians from the Western Armenia (Eastern Anatolya) was adopted in late 1911, the Young Turks used WWI as a suitable opportunity for its implementation.

There were an estimated two million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire before the WWI. Over one and a half million Armenians were killed from 1915-1923. Those who survived were either Islamized or exiled, or found shelters in different parts of the world.

The first phase of the Armenian Genocide started on April 24, 1915 with the arrest of several hundred Armenian intellectuals and representatives of national elite (mainly in the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople) and their subsequent elimination. Hereinafter, Armenians worldwide started to commemorate the Armenian genocide on April 24.

The second phase was the forced conscription of around 60,000 Armenian men into the Turkish military, who were later disarmed and murdered.

The third phase of the genocide was the exile and the massacres of women, children, and elderly people into the Syrian desert. Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered by Turkish soldiers, police officers, Kurdish and Circassian gangs during the deportation. Others died of disease. Thousands of women and children were subjected to violence. Tens of thousands were forcibly Islamized.

Finally, the last phase of the Armenian genocide appeared with the total and utter denial by Turkish government of the mass killings and elimination of the Armenian nation on its homeland. Despite the ongoing international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey has consistently fought the acceptance of the Armenian Genocide by any means, including falsification of historical facts, propaganda campaigns, lobbying, etc. On December 9, 1948 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, according to which, genocide is defined as an international crime and the signing states are obliged to prevent, as well as punish the perpetrators of the genocide.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman government has been documented, recognized, and affirmed in the form of media and eyewitness reports, laws, resolutions, and statements by many states and international organizations. The complete catalogue of all documents categorizing the 1915-23 widespread massacre of the Armenian population in Ottoman Empire as a premeditated and thoroughly executed act of Genocide, is extensive.

Below is a brief list of those states and organizations, provincial governments and city councils which have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide

 

Parliamentary Resolutions, Laws and Declarations

 

  • Declaration by the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia on the Recognition and Condemnation of the Armenian Genocide – May 6, 2021.
  • Resolution by the People's Council of the Syrian Arab Republic on recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire – February 13, 2020
  • Unanimous resolution of the U.S. Senate recognizing and condemning Armenian Genocide -December 12, 2019
  • Resolution of the U.S. House of Representatives approving U.S. position on Armenian Genocide -October 30, 2019
  • Position of the Assembly of the Republic (the Parliament of Portugal) on its position on the Armenian Genocide -April 26, 2019
  • Initiative of the chamber of deputies of Italy encouraging the government of Italy to recognize Armenian Genocide – April 10,2019
  • Decree of the President of France Emmanuel Macron recognizing April 24 as a National Memorial Day of Armenian Genocide -April 10, 2019
  • Resolution of the Chamber of Deputies of the parliament of Czech Republic condemning and recognizing Armenian Genocide and other crimes against humanity -April 26, 2017
  • The Senate of France confirmation of the bill criminalizing the negation of Armenian Genocide -October 14, 2016
  • Resolution of the Knesset Committee on education, culture and sport of the State of Israel – August 1, 2016
  • Resolution of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany – June 2, 2016
  • Resolution of the Senate of the Republic of Paraguay – October 29, 2015
  • Resolution of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Belgium – July 24, 2015
  • Resolution of the Federal Senate of the Federal Republic of Brazil – May 29, 2015
  • Resolution of the Parliament of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg – May 6, 2015
  • Statement of State Duma of Russian Federation on the Armenian Genocide Centennial – April 24, 2015
  • Statement by the President Federal Republic of Germany Joachim Gauck – April 23, 2015
  • Statement of the ‪‎Austrian Parliament on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire – 22 April, 2015
  • European Parliament Resolution dedicated to the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide – 15 April, 2015
  • Czech Republic, Resolution of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies of Parliament on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Centenary – April 14 2015
  • Resolution of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile – April 14, 2015
  • Statement by Holy Father Francis during the Mass at the Vatican – April 12, 2015
  • Bolivia's Senate and the Chamber of Deputies Resolution – November 27, 2014
  • Sweden Riksdag Resolution – March 11, 2010
  • MERCOSUR, Joint Parliamentary Committee Resolution – Nov 19, 2007
  • S. House Committee Resolution – October 10, 2007
  • Chile, Senate Resolution – July 07, 2007
  • Argentina, Law – January 15, 2007
  • Argentina, Senate Special Statement – April 19, 2006
  • Lithuania, Assembly Resolution – December 15, 2005
  • European Parliament Resolution – September 28, 2005
  • Venezuela, National Assembly Resolution – July 14, 2005
  • Germany, Parliament Resolution – June 15, 2005
  • Argentina, Senate Resolution – April 20, 2005
  • Poland, Parliament Resolution – April 19, 2005
  • Netherlands, Parliament Resolution – December 21, 2004
  • Slovakia, National Assembly Resolution – November 30, 2004
  • Canada, House of Commons Resolution – April 21, 2004
  • Argentina, Senate Declaration – March 31, 2004
  • Uruguay, Law – March 26, 2004
  • Argentina, Draft Law – March 18, 2004
  • Switzerland (Helvetic Confederation), National Council Resolution – December 16, 2003
  • Argentina, Senate Resolution – August 20, 2003
  • Canada, Senate Resolution – June 13, 2002
  • European Parliament Resolution – February 28, 2002
  • Common Declaration of His Holiness John Paul II and His Holiness Karekin II at Holy Etchmiadzin, Republic of Armenia – September 27, 2001
  • Prayer of John Paul II, Memorial of Tsitsernakaberd – September 26, 2001
  • France, Law – January 29, 2001
  • Italy, Chamber of Deputies Resolution – November 16, 2000
  • European Parliament Resolution – November 15, 2000
  • France, Senate, Draft Law – November 7, 2000
  • Lebanon, Parliament Resolution – May 11, 2000
  • Sweden, Parliament Report – March 29, 2000
  • France, National Assembly Draft Law – May 28, 1998
  • Belgium, Senate Resolution – March 26, 1998
  • Lebanon, Chamber of Deputies Resolution – April 3, 1997
  • S. House of Representatives Resolution 3540 – June 11, 1996
  • Greece (Hellenic Republic), Parliament Resolution – April 25, 1996
  • Canada, House of Commons Resolution – April 23, 1996
  • Russia, Duma Resolution – April 14, 1995
  • Argentina, Senate Resolution – May 5, 1993
  • European Parliament Resolution – June 18, 1987
  • S. House of Representatives Joint Resolution 247 – September 12, 1984
  • Cyprus, House of Representatives, Resolution – April 29, 1982
  • S. House of Representatives Joint Resolution 148 – April 9, 1975
  • Uruguay, Senate and House of Representatives, Resolution – April 20, 1965
  • S. Senate Resolution 359 – May 11, 1920
  • S. Congress Act to Incorporate Near East Relief – August 6, 1919
  • S. Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 – February 9, 1916
  • France, Great Britain, and Russia, Joint Declaration – May 24, 1915

 

International Organizations 

 

  • Parliament of Andean Community of Nations (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú)September 20, 2016.
  • International Organization of La Francophonie, Statement of Secretary-General – April 24 2015
  • The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity – April 9, 2007
  • Human Rights Association of Turkey, Istanbul Branch – April 24, 2006
  • International Center for Transitional Justice Report Prepared for TARC – February 10, 2003
  • European Alliance of YMCAs – July 20, 2002
  • Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly Declaration – April 24, 2001
  • Human Rights League – May 16, 1998
  • Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly Declaration – April 24, 1998
  • The Association of Genocide Scholars – June 13, 1997
  • Kurdistan Parliament in Exile – April 24, 1996
  • Union of American Hebrew Congregations – November 7, 1989
  • UN Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities – July 2, 1985
  • Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, Verdict of the Tribunal – April 16, 1984
  • World Council of Churches – August 10, 1983
  • UN General Assembly Resolution – December 9, 1948
  • UN War Crimes Commission Report – May 28, 1948

 

Provincial legislative bodies, governments, city councils

 

US states

  • Alabama
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Texas
  • Wyoming
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • South Dakota

Australia

  • Province of New South Wales

Argentina

  • Province of Cordoba
  • Province of Buenos Aires

Canada

  • British Columbia
  • Ontario (including the City of Toronto)
  • Quebec (including the City of Montreal)
  • Alberta

Switzerland

  • Geneva Canton
  • Vaud Canton

Great Britain

  • Wales

Italy 

  • Consiglio regionale della Toscana
  • Consiglio regionale della Lazio
  • Assemblea Regionale Siciliana
  • Comune di Tolfa
  • Comune di Bertiolol
  • Comune di Udine
  • Comune di Sesto San Giovanni
  • Comune di Salgareda
  • Comune di Belluno
  • Comune di Roma
  • Comune di Massa Lombarda
  • Comune di Genova
  • Comune di Thiene
  • Comune di Castelsilano
  • Comune di Firenze
  • Comune di Ravenna
  • Comune di Feltre
  • Comune di Venezia
  • Comune di Imola
  • Comune di Faenza
  • Comune di Parma
  • Comune di Solarolo
  • Comune di Villafranca Padovana
  • Comune di Milano
  • Comune di Ponte di Piave
  • Comune di Conselice
  • Comune di Lugo
  • Comune di S. Stino Livenza
  • Comune di Cotignola
  • Comune di Asiago
  • Comune di S. Agata Sul Santerno
  • Comune di Monterforte D'Alpone
  • Comune di Padova
  • Comune di Montorso Vicentino
  • Comune di Fusignano
  • Comune di Bagnacavallo
  • Comune di Russi
  • Comune di Sanguinetto
  • Comune di Camponogara

Spain 

  • Navarre
  • Catalonia
  • Basque Country
  • Balearic Islands
  • Burgos
  • Alcorcon
  • Valencia
  • Cullera
  • Villena
  • Torrent
  • Sabadell
  • Malaga
  • Benalmadena
  • Soria
  • Mislata
  • Burjassot
  • Betera
  • Pinto
  • Xirivella
  • San Sebastián
  • Santa Margarida i els Monjos
  • Aldaia
  • Merida
  • Paiporte
  • Alicante
  • Ontinyent

Belgium

  • Flemish Parliament Resolution

Austria

  • Vienna

Ukraine

  • Svatove city, Luhansk region

Mexico

  • Michoacán

Valentina Matviyenko praises productive development of inter-parliamentary ties with Armenia

Tambiyan Samvel

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 15:02,

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. The cooperation of Armenia and Russia on the inter-parliamentary level has a rather successful course of development, the Chairperson of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matviyenko said during a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Matviyenko thanked Pashinyan for supporting the development of inter-parliamentary cooperation.

“The inter-parliamentary commission is successfully working. From the Russian side the commission is led by Federation Council Deputy Chairperson Yuri Vorobyov, who is very responsibly fulfilling his work. They will travel to Yerevan tomorrow to hold the already 34th session of the commission,” she said.

Matviyenko also underscored the productive work of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and thanked the Armenian lawmakers.

Matviyenko added that they developed friendly relations with Armenian Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan.

Foreign Ministry asked for Karabakh assurances in Yerevan-Baku deal

Tambiyan Samvel
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 13:00 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Country of Living party has sent a letter to the Armenian Foreign Ministry to obtain assurances that Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) will not be recognized as part of Azerbaijan under a peace treaty supposed to be signed with Azerbaijan.

"On July 8, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia adopted a decision on the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which remains in force, being a key document of the position of the Republic of Armenia on Artsakh," the party said in a statement.

"The Country of Living party has asked assurances from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the treaty set to be signed with Azerbaijan or any provision(s) thereof will not contradict the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia dated 08.07.1992, according to the 2nd part of which any international or domestic document where the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is mentioned as part of Azerbaijan is considered inadmissible for the Republic of Armenia."

In early April, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to kick-start peace talks. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a statement that he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had agreed to set up a bilateral border commission by the end of April.

The President of Armenia and the Ambassador of India exchange thoughts about new directions of partnership

Tambiyan Samvel

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 19:08,

YEREVAN, 11 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan on April 11 received Ambassador of India to Armenia Kishan Dan Dewal.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the President of Armenia, at the beginning of the meeting Ambassador Kishan Dan Dewal presented the President with the book of the Minister of External Affairs of India Subrahmanyan Jaishankar “The India Way: Strategies for and Uncertain World”.

At the meeting the sides exchanged thoughts about the prospects of development of Armenian-Indian relations, new directions of partnership.

The interlocutors mentioned that Armenia and India have great potential for deepening cooperation and can implement mutually beneficial programmes in a number of fields, in particular high technologies, education, healthcare, transportation, air communication, culture and tourism.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and India and the sides emphasized that based on 30 year of interstate relations, opportunities for implementation of more ambitious programmes should be created.

Armenian Foreign Minister to visit Georgia

Tambiyan Samvel

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 09:34, 29 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 29, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will depart for Georgia on a working visit on March 29, the ministry said in a statement.

During the visit the Foreign Minister will meet with Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Zalkaliani.

Armenia repeatedly responded to Azerbaijan’s proposals – PM

Tambiyan Samvel

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 11:29, 31 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia responded to the five-point proposal presented by Azerbaijan both publicly and through working-diplomatic channels. Baku’s claim that Armenia left the proposals without response absolutely has nothing to do with the reality, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the Cabinet meeting today.

“Perhaps, the most exploited topic by Azerbaijan for provoking regional escalation is the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan continues to claim that Armenia leaves that issue without response. Whereas, this information absolutely has nothing to do with the reality because I have repeatedly publicly expressed the readiness of Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

But the thing is that today as well Azerbaijan continues announcing that it has transferred a five-point proposal to Armenia, but we have allegedly left these proposals without response. At the previous Cabinet meeting, I have thoroughly touched upon this issue live and stated that on March 10, a 5-point proposal of Azerbaijan was handed over to Armenia, and on March 14, four days later, two of which were non-working days, we responded in writing to that proposal, and handed over that response in the same way we received it.

It was conveyed to us by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing country, we transferred the response through the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries. We have also publicly announced that there is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals of Azerbaijan. The Foreign Minister of Armenia announced on March 21, 2022: (I quote):

“There is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan on March 10. It’s another thing that these proposals do not address all the issues on the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda. With our response conveyed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship we have completed that agenda and thus, are ready to the launch of peace talks on this basis” (end of quote)”, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan emphasized that this is Armenia’s official position and Armenia responded to Azerbaijan’s five-point proposal both publicly and through working-diplomatic channels.

“This response means that the principle of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders is acceptable for Armenia”, he said.

Blinken Violates Law with Azerbaijan Aid. Will Congress Act?

Tambiyan Samvel
The National Interest

Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act prohibits provision of U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan so long as Azerbaijan refuses to commit to diplomacy as the sole means to resolve its conflicts.

by Michael Rubin

Just over eighteen months ago, Azerbaijan’s army—backed by Turkish Special Forces and equipped with Israeli drones—launched a surprise attack on the self-declared Artsakh Republic in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region which both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim, but which Armenians largely controlled since the end of the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev timed their assault to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of the Ottoman Turkish invasion of newly-independent Armenia. The 2020 assault lasted forty-four-days and ended with a Russia-imposed truce, enforced by the deployment of Russian peacekeepers along the line-of-control in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and Armenia’s international border.  

The war, which killed over 7,000, represented both a failure of intelligence and diplomacy for the United States. Neither the intelligence community nor the Congressional committees overseeing it has explained if the September 27, 2020, attack surprised U.S. analysts and diplomats or, conversely, if the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department were aware of the impending attack but did nothing.

The question is not simply academic, but also legal. Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act prohibits provision of U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan so long as Azerbaijan refuses to commit to diplomacy as the sole means to resolve its conflicts. By abandoning the Minsk Group diplomatic process and launching a war, Aliyev violated the president’s certification.

Nevertheless, just two days after President Joe Biden won the praise of Armenians, historians, and human rights activists for fulfilling his campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, without explanation, issued a new waiver to Azerbaijan. This was particularly galling for two reasons. First, Azerbaijan continued not only to hold Armenians seized in Nagorno-Karabakh during the fighting, but also civilians kidnapped from the Lachin Corridor after the truce. Second, rather than recommit to diplomacy, Aliyev openly called for the expansion of a war of conquest to include anchluss of Armenia itself.  

Azerbaijan’s disdain goes further. Just as Azerbaijani forces destroyed a one-thousand-year-old cemetery in Julfa—an event crucial to my own reconsideration of Azerbaijan’s motives—in areas of Nagorno-Karabakh seized from Armenian control, Azerbaijani forces moved to eradicate Christian sites and important artifacts of Armenian cultural heritage dating back centuries. In just the year since Blinken offered his waiver, the Azerbaijani state has acted toward Christian heritage the way the Taliban had to Afghanistan’s ancient Buddhist heritage. That United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) employs Aliyev’s wife shows the extent to which Aliyev believes his “caviar diplomacy” immunizes him from accountability. Azerbaijan now even seeks to erase the term Nagorno-Karabakh.

Events in Ukraine have emboldened Aliyev. Not only does he see Russia, with whom he has cast his lot, acquire some territory through aggression, but he also understands the White House is distracted. Since March 8, as sub-zero temperatures blanketed the region, Azerbaijan cut off gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, essentially imperiling the entire civilian population.  

After Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of some Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijani forces have resumed their probing attacks into Artsakh and Armenia. When remaining Russian peacekeepers asked both sides to separate their forces, Artsakh forces complied but Azerbaijani forces rushed forward to occupy two Armenian villages and then used Turkish drones to kill three Armenians and wound fourteen. To their credit, both the Russians and French fingered Azerbaijan as the aggressor. The State Department, however, doubled down on its moral equivalence.

Blinken may believe obfuscating the truth or treating aggressor and victim as equally responsible is sophisticated. He is wrong. Not only does he signal to Baku that there will be no consequences for atrocities and ethnic cleansing, but Blinken’s actions are also illegal. Biden and Blinken violate the law when they certify, “the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh” when the facts contradict this. Blinken shows disdain for Congress by failing to fulfill legally mandated reporting requirements. That Blinken continues to certify Azerbaijan’s commitment to diplomacy at the same time Aliyev seeks to prevent the U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group from visiting is little different in spirit than the previous administration’s failure to support its ambassador to Ukraine.

It is time for both for the State Department to cancel its waiver of Section 907, and perhaps even apply Magnitsky Act sanctions to the Azerbaijani leadership. Should Blinken ignore the law, however, and show greater fealty to Azerbaijani sensitivities than to his duties to Congress, then it is time for Congress to summon Blinken and take action.

Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

After War, Can Armenia’s Evangelicals and Orthodox Save Their Nation Together?

Tambiyan Samvel
April 1 2022
Some evangelicals thank Apostolic church for preserving their nation amid trials. Some priests fear Protestant newcomers will divide it.
JAYSON CASPER|APRIL 1, 2022 12:00 PM
Image: Maja Hitij / Getty
The seventh-century Church of St. Gayane in Vagharshapat, the religious center of Armenia, located within walking distance from Etchmiadzin Cathedral.

Craig Simonian had a vision. It landed him in a war zone.

Raised in an Armenian-American Orthodox family, he came to know Jesus personally at university. He served as a Vineyard church pastor in New Jersey for nearly two decades but continued to embrace his Apostolic church heritage.

It laid the foundation of his faith—but also of his nation of origin.

“The reason Armenia still exists is because of the church,” he said. “It kept our shattered people together, especially in the diaspora.”

As a child, Simonian’s grandmother witnessed her father and mother murdered in the Armenian Genocide, killed by Turks in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

When she eventually arrived in America, it was the Apostolic church that embraced their family. Simonian recalled kindly visits by priests of their Oriental Orthodox tradition who—in the face of tragedy and devastation—gave him a deep appreciation of the sovereignty of God.

It was his evangelical awakening, however, that drew him back to Armenia—and in particular to its church. He relocated in 2018 to a nation locked in a cold war with neighboring Azerbaijan. A self-professed “oddball,” he longed for the Apostolic church to embrace fully the gospel he had discovered.

“If we are going to reach this generation, we can’t do it without them,” Simonian said. “I will call people to Jesus but never to leave their church.”

But two years later, the war turned hot.

Azerbaijan invaded the Armenian-controlled enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in October 2020. The territory is recognized internationally as belonging to Azerbaijan, yet the residents of what Armenians call Artsakh voted for independence in 1991. For three decades Armenia held the upper hand but was routed in a 44-day war through superior drone technology that Turkey and Israel supplied to Azerbaijan.

Russian intervention enforced a ceasefire, with Nagorno-Karabakh demolished and Armenians holding a fraction of their previous territory. The nation felt numb after its defeat, and many found refuge in the Apostolic church.

Today, Simonian provides ad hoc spiritual care as he builds relationships with evangelicals and Orthodox alike.

His primary worship is through Yerevan International Church. But few in his personal circles have saluted his efforts to attend the Divine Liturgy and cultivate relationships with Orthodox clergy. Many evangelicals are soured by years of the older tradition labeling the newcomers a sect, or worse, a cult. But neither has Simonian yet found in the Apostolic church the fellowship that characterized his diaspora youth.

“The warm fuzzies I had growing up are completely void here,” he said. “The church is not so much a community.”

Simonian understands. Soviet communism purged the church, replacing clergy with compliant leadership. Following Armenia’s independence in 1991, this generation still exists but is giving way to a spiritual cadre that he says recognizes the church needs more than ancient traditions.

“We do not need to re-evangelize Armenia,” said Shahe Ananyan, dean of Gevorkian Theological Seminary in the Apostolic holy see of Etchmiadzin, 13 miles west of Yerevan. “Our main task is to wisely consider how to bring both Eastern and Western traditions together in synthesis.”

The church is still discussing application, he said. But he recognized that modern life for many has crowded out liturgical attendance and Bible reading.

Forging forward anyway is Bagrat Galstanyan, bishop of Tavush, 100 miles northeast of Yerevan on the border with Azerbaijan. Previously presiding over the Canadian Apostolic diocese of Montreal, he is well placed to assist the synthesis—but is struggling with the weight of his spiritual responsibility.

“Practically, we are stretched,” Galstanyan said. “I am relying on the institutional memory of the church.”

Pre-pandemic, he established the One Community, One School program to get religious education—and social work—into the remote villages of Tavush. Out of 70 parishes, his diocese has 18 operating church buildings but only 10 priests.

At Galstanyan’s inauguration, he pledged to “bring Christ into every home.” Sunday school–type activities take place every day after regular classes, which become a sort of village center. And he is uniting each group under rotating themes, with family, identity, salvation, and eternal life at the forefront.

“We start at a level people can grasp easily, and then widen it,” he said, focusing on practical, everyday issues. “The gospel imperative is for the Word to become flesh.”

Galstanyan welcomes evangelical partnership in Tavush. But the few groups currently there, he said, pursue their own interests. And across the country, he lamented, there are so many denominations—all with different names and purposes.

“How can you claim to follow the one unchangeable Christ,” he asked rhetorically, “when you are internally divided?”

Armenia also lacks an evangelical alliance, noted one pastor. Previous efforts fell apart when the new government widened religious freedom, lessening the need for solidarity. Each group then went back to its own ways.

It is very confusing for Armenians, admitted Hovhannes Hovsepian.

Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church (AEC) in Yerevan, he is also assistant to the head of the historic Protestant denomination. Founded in 1846 during an Armenian revival and reformation effort in Turkey, its presence is more recent in Armenia proper. Its relief and outreach ministries expanded dramatically after an earthquake in 1988.

Unlike most Baptists and Pentecostals, these evangelicals seek to honor the Orthodox as the “mother church.”

“We stress the importance of the Word of God and the gospel, against traditions that marginalize these,” Hovsepian said. “But once reformation happens, we can freely go back.”

For centuries, he explained, the Apostolic church not only preached Christianity but also held the Armenian people together in unity, becoming the church of the nation. They cannot comprehend another denomination within their fold.

The ancient church traces its roots to A.D. 301 when St. Gregory converted Armenia’s king and created the world’s first official Christian nation. Hovsepian said the church has a biblical explanation for every Apostolic tradition but most priests do not communicate this to the people. And with the liturgy conducted in the old Armenian language, those in the pews cannot understand the richness of their heritage.

Instead, the church calendar is populated with saints who distract intercession away from Jesus himself—the one mediator between God and humanity.

“They prefer to light a candle,” Hovsepian said, “than to open their hearts toward God.”

Ananyan, who is also the head of the ecumenical department of the Apostolic church, grudgingly appreciates the “mother church” label. And he is not against the Reformed faith. The current Catholicos (akin to Patriarch), Karekin II, is also a current president of the World Council of Churches and oversees an official dialogue with the Anglican Communion.

But the Orthodox seminary leader suspects that local evangelicals are confused by what it means to be Armenian. More than 100 different Protestant entities are registered by the government.

“Is their purpose to create as many evangelical communities as possible or to renew spiritual life?” asked Ananyan, calling it nonsense. “Instead, they are creating division and a deformed community.”

He views such splintering as dangerous. By pluralizing Christian identity, Protestants divorce the connection between religion and ethnicity. Look at the results in Europe, he said, where the entire faith is under threat.

Hovsepian sees it differently.

“People can choose what type of church speaks more to their heart,” he said, as some veer toward preaching, music, or tradition. “God is using the church in its diversity, as each gathers its particular flock.”

But there is ample room for cooperation. The last half decade has seen an unofficial dialogue between the Apostolic church and the AEC, resulting in greatly improved relations.

Through the Bible Society of Armenia, Hovsepian has joined Catholics in teaching the Bible to public school teachers, under the auspices of Etchmiadzin. The three denominations have jointly translated the New Testament into modern Armenian, soon to be released to the public. And the Christian Women’s Forum adds Greek Orthodox and Assyrian participation, providing financial and moral support to young mothers considering abortion, among other services.

The Bible Society board is composed of five Orthodox members, two evangelicals, and one Catholic. Ananyan said it sold 30,000 Bibles last year, evidence of a steady hunger for the Word of God.

But though he lauds the Apostolic church for its missionary role in the sixth century, he believes such outreach is not appropriate today among its Muslim neighbors. Instead, the witness of the church comes through preservation—especially of historic monasteries seized by Azerbaijan during the war and threatened with the erasure of their Armenian identity.

This steadfast faith should be better respected by Protestants and Catholics, he said.

“We as a nation are called to witness to Jesus Christ in a very difficult region,” said Ananyan. “Our very existence is a testimony of Christianity.”

This also burdens the heart of Simonian, who is eager to join with the Orthodox to promote church growth and evangelism.

The church is ancient, but it continues.

“I love the Apostolic church,” he said. “Every dream I have for Armenia includes them.”