Addressing the European Union’s legislative body on Wednesday, Pashinian claimed that the church’s top clergy is leading a “party of war” that comprises Armenia’s main opposition groups and is keen to reignite the conflict with Azerbaijan. He accused it of collaborating with “foreign special services” not named by him.
The church’s Supreme Spiritual Council dismissed the allegations as “fabricated” and “unacceptable” at the end of a four-day session held in Echmiadzin. In a statement, it said they are aimed justifying the Armenian authorities’ “illegal actions against the Church” and “further repressions” planned by them.
Pashinian began pressuring Garegin to resign last June shortly after the Catholicos accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and illegally occupying Armenian border areas during an international conference in Switzerland. Three archbishops and one bishop were arrested in the following months on different charges strongly denied by them. Three of them have been moved to house arrest in recent weeks.
Earlier this year, law-enforcement authorities also indicted Garegin himself as well as six other clergymen. They were banned from leaving the country to attend an emergency episcopal conference held in Austria last month.
Pashinian defended the crackdown in his speech at the European Parliament. His domestic critics say it violates Armenia’s constitution and laws guaranteeing the ancient church’s separation from the state.
Pashinian has used different lines of attack on the church during his nearly yearlong campaign. He said until December that Garegin and other top clerics at odds with him must go because they had secret sex affairs in breach of their vows of celibacy. He then began accusing them of spying for a foreign country, presumably Russia.
Last month, Pashinian turned on eight prominent members of the Armenian communities in the United States and Europe who condemned his “attacks” on the church. He claimed that they want to remove the seat of the Catholicos from Armenia and seize church treasures kept in Echmiadzin.