Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem responds to Grand Mufti of  Caucasus

ArmInfo.  The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has issued a statement in response to the claims by Grand Mufti of the Caucasus Allahshukur Hummat Pashazade. The statement reads:  

"The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem stands resolutely with the  Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and all Armenians of conscience in  unequivocally condemning the recent statements made against the  Armenian Apostolic Church. We categorically reject and condemn these  profane attempts to falsify the sacred history of our Church and  people. We maintain that these remarks are part of a deliberate and  expanding disinformation campaign, whose central aim is the  systematic delegitimization of the Armenian Apostolic Church and its  historic role in the region.

"Through the Azerbaijani regime and its ideological apparatuses, this  disinformation campaign has reached new depths with the incendiary  statements of one Allahshukur Pashazade, a religious figurehead who  has recently taken on an ever more prominent role as  state-propogandist. We choose not to dignify his remarks with direct  citation. His words are as inflammatory as they are absurd.

"In recent months, the Azerbaijani regime's disinformation campaign  has intensified. Through both historical revisionism and negationism,  it seeks to erase centuries of Armenian heritage and replace it with  a manufactured narrative that omits Armenian Christian presence. From  the systematic destruction of Armenian churches and cemeteries to the  false attribution of our heritage as "Caucasian Albanian," their goal  is clear: to estrange Armenians from their own land, and to silence  the one institution that cannot be subjugated-the Armenian Apostolic  Church. 

"Pashazade's comments are not theological musings but posture in a  broader war for perception. His statements aim to lend spiritual  legitimacy to recent territorial aggression and cultural erasure  which will serve as pretext for further campaigns of expansion and  historical falsification. Pashazade does not speak as a man of faith,  but as an illiterate functionary of a dictatorial regime bent on  achieving historical erasure through state-sponsored fiction.

"The Armenian Apostolic Church continues to stand as one of the  oldest living expressions of Christendom. We remain steadfast in our  defense against all disinformation. We shall never yield our  millennial witness to Christ nor our spiritual custodianship of the  Armenian nation."

Earlier, Pashazade stated that Armenian shrines operating in Armenia  and the region for tens of centuries, even the 1700-year-old  Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, are located on "historical Azerbaijani  lands" and that Armenians allegedly "appropriated" these territories.  Pashazade concluded his series of absurd statements by presenting the  Armenian Apostolic Church as a threat to the countries of the region.