Armenia`s premier preparing for antinational actions, trying to push  AAC aside

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is ready to sign a peace treaty with Baku at any cost. The Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), which he is trying to push aside,  may become an obstacle on this path. Disgraced member of the National  Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hakob Aslanyan made this  assessment in a conversation with journalists on June 10.

Aslanyan recalled that Armenia is a secular state.

Therefore, the state and religion are separate from each other and do  not interfere in each other's affairs.  And what is being done today  in relation to the AAC is a big mistake.

<Prime Minister, you or anyone else, you have no right to interfere  in the spiritual field. If there is dissatisfaction with something,  it is up to the clergy and the people to decide. In fact, there is  something deeper at the heart of this process>, he said.

This is something deep, as the parliamentarian, previously a member  of the ruling Civil Contract faction, explained, is that "Nikol  Pashinyan is preparing for something anti-state". "Pashinyan is  trying to push the church aside so that it does not interfere with  his aforementioned actions", he explained. Hakob Aslanyan pointed to  the recent statement by the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslim Board,  Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazada, that "after consulting with  the community of Western Azerbaijan", "they restored the Yerevan  Kaziyat, which will resume work in both Yerevan and Echmiadzin".

<I think Pashinyan's only goal is to conclude a peace treaty at any  cost in order to be re-elected and usurp power>, the parliamentarian  is convinced.

The <fresh> campaign against the AAC was launched with Pashinyan's  statement on May 29 at a cabinet meeting, when he compared the  churches of Armenia to closets. Then he raised the issue of the  celibacy of Armenian clergy, in particular the Catholicos of All  Armenians. And from that moment on, he came out every day demanding  clarification of the question - whether Garegin II adhered to the vow  of celibacy. The day before, he said that the Catholicos had a child  and he should resign.

This morning, Pyashinyan called for "effective steps" that will lead  to the replacement of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and  announced the creation of a special coordination group for "the  liberation of the Residence of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin"  and the settlement of organizational issues for holding new elections  of the Catholicos. Pashinyan specified that members of the  Coordination Group may be followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church  who believe that the agenda for the renewal of the Mother See  "corresponds to the interests of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the  people, the Armenian state and the holy tradition of our ancestors."  The head of the Cabinet added that members of the commission will be  recruited from among those who "believe with all their hearts in our  living Lord - Jesus Christ, have read the Bible from beginning to end  at least once, have observed Lent at least once in the last five  years, and pray every day."

Both laymen and clergymen can be members of the Coordination Group,  Pashinyan wrote. In the case of clergymen, it is necessary that they  not be celibate. The first 10 members of the Coordination Group will  be chosen by the Prime Minister himself. To join this group, you need  to write to his email. In the future, the group will independently  determine the order of expansion, its structure and other possible  issues, Pashinyan said.

It is noteworthy that the campaign against the Armenian Church  coincided with Pashazade's statements that the Armenian Apostolic  Church poses a threat to the countries of the region and that  "Western Azerbaijanis will return to their ancestral lands."