Patriarch of Constantinople of Armenia Sahak Mashalyan held a press conference in Istanbul after completing his visit to the United States. According to Agos, the main items on the agenda of the press conference were the Patriarch’s visit to the United States, the closure of the Patriarchate during the visit of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Istanbul, as well as the reaction of the Armenian community in Turkey to this issue, writes Factor.am.
During the visit of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Istanbul, a cleric was not present at the meeting with the local Armenian community of the Armenian Patriarchate, and the Patriarchate building was closed that day.
Patriarch Sahak Mashalyan noted that Armenia made a procedural error and that Prime Minister Pashinyan’s request to visit the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul was not conveyed in writing.
“There was confusion over Prime Minister Pashinyan’s visit to Istanbul. The Republic of Armenia is an institution, but the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey is also an institution. The Republic of Armenia has a 35-year history. However, the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey has a history of more than 500 years. There is a protocol for Pashinyan’s visit to the Armenian community of Istanbul. We previously hosted the first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, at the Patriarchate. However, there was no official note regarding this latest visit. Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Nairi Petrosyan, stated that Prime Minister Pashinyan would come to Istanbul, but would not visit the Patriarchate, but would come to the Astvatsatsin Patriarchal Church in Gumgapi and light a candle,” Patriarch Mashalyan said.
He insisted that the protocol error was not made by the Armenian Patriarchate, but by the state institutions of the Republic of Armenia. Mashalyan described the absence of a cleric during Pashinyan’s visit to the Astvatsatsin Patriarchal Church as a “conscious attitude”.
“The absence of a cleric during Mr. Pashinyan’s visit to Gumgap is a conscious position. The reason is the offensive and aggressive language he used towards Catholicos Karekin II. Other churches also reacted in the same way. Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia also stated that he was with Etchmiadzin. Similarly, Patriarch of Jerusalem Nurhan Manukyan. My spiritual brothers who served with me did not want to see the Prime Minister there. This is a political debate and a political clash. We do not want this to be done through the Catholicosate of All Armenians, we do not want them to interfere in the internal affairs of the church for political reasons, and we do not want issues to be resolved with offensive language. And we showed our most natural reaction. This is our clear reaction.”
The Patriarch was reminded that Catholicos Garegin II also held a political position and had long cooperated with the opposition against Pashinyan. Mashalyan noted that Pashinyan is trying to interfere in the affairs of the church, seeking to have a Catholicos who would correspond to him and who could replace the Catholicos whenever he wants.
“If I were here, I would have received him and personally expressed my objections. But I was not here. But this is not an issue that can be entrusted to someone else. We considered such a position to be correct. We held a silent protest, and Mr. Pashinyan understood this.”
He noted that “when a cleric enters politics, he has to pay for it. Whether he is right or not, we will see.” Thus, the Patriarch referred to the statements of clergy regarding political events related to Echmiadzin.
“As Armenians in Turkey, we want better relations between Turkey and Armenia. Pashinyan is not pursuing the wrong policy, we support him. But by saying this, we cannot ignore his political position towards our church,” the patriarch said.
Mashalyan was also asked about his written statement on the matter. “As the Patriarch of Istanbul, some people have started mentioning my name as a candidate for the “new Catholicos” determined by certain forces. Our thousand-year-old church traditions and church discipline require that we never want or even think about electing a new Catholicos while the current Catholicos is on the throne,” he said.
Recall that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with representatives of the Armenian community and the Armenian press in Istanbul ahead of his upcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. No representative of the Armenian Patriarchate took part in the meeting.