They included Ashot Danielian, Karabakh’s Yerevan-based interim president, his predecessor Samvel Shahramanian and leaders of Karabakh Armenian factions. Their expressed their “filial gratitude and loyalty” to the church, according to Garegin’s office.
“During the meeting, His Holiness and the Artsakh officials discussed ways to address the challenges faced by the displaced people of Artsakh and to protect the rights of the Artsakh Armenians,” the office said in a statement. “In this context, the interlocutors also referred to the social assistance programs implemented by the Mother See and to the pastoral work being carried out among Artsakh Armenians in their current places of residence.”
“The participants underlined the importance of pursuing consistent joint actions in international forums to advocate for the rights of the people of Artsakh, to ensure the release of hostages and prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan, to determine the fate of the missing, and to preserve Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage,” added the statement.
Garegin has accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Karabakh, destroying the region’s Armenian churches and illegally occupying Armenian border areas during his international engagements. Those included his participation in a conference hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Switzerland in May. Azerbaijan’s top Shia Muslim cleric closely linked to the government in Baku protested against Garegin’s statements in a subsequent letter to the WCC.
As Garegin attended and addressed the WCC forum in Bern, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian began attacking the church’s top clergy in daily social media posts that sparked an uproar from opposition leaders and prominent public figures. He accused Garegin and other senior clergymen of having had secret sex affairs in breach of their vows of celibacy. Pashinian went on to demand Garegin’s resignation.
Pashinian has insisted in recent weeks that he has not abandoned plans to “free” the Echmiadzin seat of the Catholicos with the help of his supporters. Pashinian’s detractors say his campaign is aimed at pleasing Azerbaijan and/or neutralizing a key source of opposition to his unilateral concessions to Armenia’s arch-foe.
Pashinian is also at loggerheads with the Karabakh Armenian leaders, having lambasted them for continuing to present themselves as a government in exile and threatened to crack down on them. For their part, they have accused him of unleashing repressions and waging a smear campaign against the Karabakh Armenians.
