Pashinyan Will Not Attack the Cathedral, Says Robert Kocharyan

The church has to ask itself: what tools does it have to fight, if any? The church has no army or police, so it's clear that the state can exert some pressure. What can the church do? First and foremost, it can distance itself from those individuals who have launched an offensive against the church. This was stated by the Second President Robert Kocharyan in an interview with Channel 5 on August 1.

“It should declare that those people do not belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Recently, a priest in Russia made an interesting move by refusing to perform a baptism if a member of the ruling party was to be the godfather. This is one of the tools of the church, and it should be utilized. I am confident that it will receive support from the people and political forces, but the church has no option to avoid this conflict. This does not mean that tomorrow Nikol Pashinyan will launch an attack on the cathedral. My impression is that he is aiming for a long-term process of discrediting the church. That is the goal. It is highly likely that the anticipated rally will not take place in the Etchmiadzin square,” he said.

Kocharyan emphasized that he does not accept the theory that Pashinyan will unite sectarians to attack the cathedral. “Sectarians are generally indifferent to the lives of the patriarch or the clergy. It’s not that sectarians are filled with hatred towards the Armenian Church; they are simply indifferent. If you think that Nikol Pashinyan can gather sectarians with a call, that won’t happen. Today, Nikol Pashinyan does not have the mobilization resources to gather people from the streets for such an operation. This seems to me more a long-term use of discrediting tools against the church, and the church must defend itself and turn to the people. The church will never be the one to instigate or provoke conflicts. Therefore, it is the authorities of Armenia that should act based on this violent approach. Faith is deep-rooted in the people, and for the government, this is playing with fire. I do not rule out that Nikol Pashinyan understands this, which is why he will cautiously continue the process of discrediting the church, but he will not cross the line that would truly awaken the church’s mobilization resources.”