Armenia`s authorities persecuting AAC - Arman Tatoyan 

ArmInfo.The Armenian authorities in parliament are already openly demonstrating their intentions to persecute the Armenian National Church, which has the constitutional status of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, using a "convenient excuse." This is how ex- Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan commented on the statement of Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan regarding the need to tax the Church.

Tatoyan drew attention to the fact that, starting from the first  period of coming to power, the facts of such treatment of the Church  as an institution are obvious. In this vein, he listed a number of  such actions.

"This became obvious when in 2018, the initiators of the "New  Armenia, New Patriarch" movement carried out political actions  against the Mother See in the courtyard of the Catholic churches of  Surb Anna and Surb Katoghike. And in response to the submitted  applications, the authorities stated that this territory is of public  importance, and these actions are legal. Today the parliament stated  that the meetings organized by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan in the  same place are unacceptable.

The violent invasion of a group of people into the office of the  Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 2018 with the obvious connivance of  the authorities. Attack on the Catholicos of All Armenians,  surrounding a car and threatening with stones. The police escort of  the car serving for the safety of the Catholicos of All Armenians was  removed.   Discrediting the assessments of the church and clergy with  unacceptable language, insulting dignity and reputation," he noted.

In conclusion, Tatoyan noted that the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin  has already responded to "the threat to subject the Armenian  Apostolic Holy Church to taxation."

On May 21, the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Alen Simonyan,  said that he would like to understand why representatives of the  church are above business, and why the church is not in the tax field  and does not pay taxes. "For me personally, large taxpayers are the  most important people, because they are the ones who finance the  security of Armenia," he said, while expressing dissatisfaction with  the fact that protesters were gathering in the courtyard of St.  Anne's Church.

The head of the chancellery of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin,  Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, reacting to Simonyan's words, noted  that the allegations that the church does not pay taxes, to put it  mildly, are a lie.  In this vein, Khachatryan accused the speaker of  parliament of verbiage and spreading false information.  The Armenian  Apostolic Church is included in the list of 1000 taxpayers in  Armenia. At the end of 2023, it paid out more than 435 million drams,  taking 758th place in the list. And according to the results of the  first quarter of 2024 - over 147 million drams, ranking in 488th  place.