The despotic Pashinyan regime and their cronies, fueled by hatred and coercion, have embarked on a campaign of vilification targeting not only former government officials but also various Armenian factions such as ARF and Artsakh, as well as aligning themselves with Turkish and Azerbaijani interests, painting anyone who doesn’t fall in line as adversaries, even the Russians. Their latest victim is Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan, now under attack. Discrediting tactics in Armenia now often involve insinuations connecting individuals to the Kremlin, as seen during the 2023 Yerevan elections, where opposition figures were unjustly ‘linked’ to Russia. This time, the defamatory onslaught is directed towards Archbishop Bagrat, with malicious pages allegedly tied to Civil Contract and its affiliates. This criminal regime must be removed at any cost
One Hundred Thousand Rally In Yerevan, Demanding Pashinian Surrender, he barricades himself with massive police protection
Tens of thousands of Armenians congregated in the heart of Yerevan following Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian’s passionate call for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his administration to step down due to a contentious land agreement with Azerbaijan.
Leading the rally in Yerevan’s central square, Archbishop Galstanian, head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, voiced opposition to the disputed border-demarcation pact with Baku, which relinquishes control of four villages previously part of Azerbaijan during the Soviet era but under Armenian authority since the 1990s.
While the border deal has garnered support from the United States, the European Union, and Pashinian himself, opposition figures have criticized the prime minister for conceding territory without adequate assurances.
Addressing a massive crowd in Republic Square, Galstanian issued an ultimatum, giving Pashinian until 7:40 p.m. local time to announce his resignation.
“In the Republic of Armenia, you hold no authority,” Galstanian declared, echoing Pashinian’s own words to his predecessor, then Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, during successful protests six years prior.
Azerbaijani MPs suggested their agent Pashinian pay an official visit to Baku
Pro-government members of Azerbaijan’s Parliament proposed on Tuesday (May 7) that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian be officially invited to visit Baku and criticized the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is increasingly at odds with him.
“We could invite Pashinian to Baku,” said one of them, Zahid Oruj, during a parliamentary session. “At the same time, the road to Azerbaijan must be closed to all individuals who are our political enemies and who call for sanctions against our country. »
Mr. Oruj was referring to pro-Armenian American elected officials and other Western politicians who have accused Azerbaijan of military aggression against Armenia and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. In recent months, the Armenian government appears to have stopped supporting their calls for sanctions against Baku. A year ago, Mr. Pashinian publicly recognized Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Karabakh.
The Armenian prime minister is increasingly accused by his political opponents and other critics of making significant concessions to Azerbaijan and Turkey to cling to power. They strongly condemned its recent decision to cede several border areas to Azerbaijan without obtaining Azerbaijani territorial concessions in return.
The move sparked angry protests led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian and was welcomed by the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Another Azerbaijani lawmaker, Sahib Aliyev, attacked the ancient church, to which the vast majority of Armenians nominally belong, for “trying to disrupt the border demarcation process.” Aliev called the church a “den of terrorists.”
Source: https://www.armenews.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=115692&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2RXEFU68vnBuAL5hlI8qOLdZ4-q4wgSy4k9sppXOf7A-GWPPcC00kcFJA_aem_AYZWDdCV95v-RWWUOaiemaVXqqX7lCP4Vu704or23OubuzlkJc1CZFEe24KYlKmSGOh6pc6AuWIdB7W0akfyRQFa
Armenia: Compare Bagrat Srbazan Credentials with Nikol Pashinyan
Gayane Aslamazyan write on Her Facebook
Presenting Bagrat Srbazan’s Credentials:
In 2013, England’s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal was awarded.
In 2012, I successfully defended my doctoral thesis in Theology and Biological Ethics at Concordia University of Montreal (M.A), titled “The Healthcare System of Armenia: A Historical, Social, and Theological Analysis with Perspectives on Past, Present, and Future Development.”
In 2002, defended master’s thesis titled “The Problem of the Council of Jewish Consecration in the Armenian Church,” earning four degrees of private mastery.
From 1998 to 2000, pursued studies at Leeds University in England and Murfield Holy Resurrection Theological College, while serving as visiting pastor of the Armenian Holy Trinity Church in Manchester.
From 1996 to 1998, instructed courses on Holy Liturgy commentary, Chronology, and General Church History at Gevorgyan Theological Seminary and Vazgenyan School.
From 1988 to 1994, I pursued studies at Gevorgyan Theological Seminary, culminating in graduation in 1995 with excellent progress and the defense of my thesis titled “The View of the Episcopal Personality’s Schedule: Commentary and Theology (including Novel Manuscripts and Mathematical Study).”
Bagrat Archbishop Galstanyan
Additionally, in 2018, I received a diploma from the State University of Armenia.
Regarding the resemblance to Nikol Pashinyan, Yellow Journalist Street Activist become PM of Armenia
Armenia: Ishkhan Gevorgyan: The march from Tavush will be welcomed with a round-the-clock sit-in in Yerevan
On May 4, at 18:00, the 72-hour sit-in announced by Ishkhan Gevorgyan ended in front of the Government building. It was, in his words, a step to express impatience with the “one-sided process of handing over the homeland” to what is happening in Tavush. According to him, the conditional duration of the action was related to the 72-hour “detention” (ed.-arrest) of people fighting against injustice in Tavush. With this “voluntary 72-hour detention” he expresses his support to all those Armenians who do not agree with the government’s actions.
Ishkhan Gevorgyan is a participant in the 44-day Artsakh war, and later also in combat operations in various positions in Armenia. Today, on the last day of his sit-in, having learned about the protest march from Tavush to Yerevan, together with the other “irreconcilable citizens” who joined him, he decided to perform round-the-clock duty in front of the Government building and welcome the marchers on May 9.
“During these three days, I got to know many real Armenians who are also not at peace with all this. Today, at 3 o’clock, I learned that Bagrat Srbazan will come to Yerevan with the Armenians fighting in Tavush. We decided to establish round-the-clock shifts and create a corner of people who are not reconciled with this situation here. Let’s gather, express our lack of peace, discuss ways to get out of this situation, and finally welcome the march led by Bagrat Srbazan,” said Ishkhan Gevorgyan, handing over the “shift” to his friend Andranik Yeghoyan.
Pashinyan demilitarizes the Armenian military, militarizing the police, with The Help of the USA
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While Pashinyan demilitarizes the Armenian military, he is further militarizing the police, those most loyal to the regime will find their way into a new ‘police guard’ “If the draft passes the National Assembly, a purely police service will be created with new weapons and trained personnel in accordance with international standards,
which will be entrusted with the maintenance of public order and public safety, the protection of state buildings and important objects, the escorting of delegations provided for by the state protocol, as well as ensuring the legal regime of martial law and state of emergency.” The US has been in the process of ‘assisting’ Armenia in police training and anti-riot training for years now while it assisted Azerbaijan in militarization. All of this feeds into the greater plan of making Armenia more susceptible to invasion, while ensuring Pashinyan keeps his position of power. All leads to the creation of a win-win situation for NATO, pan-Turkic, and Israeli plans in the region.
Opinion | Haaretz Editorial Israel’s Fingerprints Are All Over the Ethnic Cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh
The Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh en masse still remember the first years after the Soviet Union fell apart, when their community suffered war and mass slaughter.
But they also remember the more distant history of the genocide perpetrated against their countrymen by the Ottoman Empire. Consequently, they are rightly unwilling to rely on the mercy of the Azeri security services, who in recent years haven’t hesitated to attack Armenian civilians and civilian targets and commit war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Starting in the second decade of the 21st century, Israel has been helping Azerbaijan commit war crimes and defeat the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Israel has a strategic relationship with the Azeris that includes arms deals worth billions of dollars, stemming from both Israel’s war against Iran and the fact that it buys a significant portion of the oil it needs from Azerbaijan.
In the past, security ties between the two countries remained discreet.
But in recent years, Azerbaijan has proudly displayed advanced Israeli weaponry, including missiles and suicide drones, in its military parades. It has also revealed that a factory that produces Israeli suicide drones exists on Azeri soil, and it has once again released official videos in which its forces are seen using Israeli weapons.
On March 6, Haaretz reported that over the past seven years, 92 Azeri cargo planes landed at the Ovda airbase – the only airfield from which explosives can be exported.
In addition, an Israeli suicide drone has been documented attacking an antitank battery in Armenia itself (Haaretz, March 15, 2021). Haaretz also reported that Azeri journalists and opposition activists have been targeted for surveillance with NSO’s Pegasus spyware (May 25, 2023).
Throughout this period, Israel hasn’t just supplied Azerbaijan with arms. It has also helped it distort history.
During legal proceedings in 2020, the Foreign Ministry admitted that Israel’s refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide – which it defines merely as a “tragedy” – stems in part from its relationship with the Azeri government.
At the same time, Israel is also assisting Azerbaijan’s campaign for international recognition of the “Khojaly genocide,” which the Armenians allegedly perpetrated against the Azeris. Admittedly, there are conflicting stories about what happened in the battle of Khojaly during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war of 1992. But there’s one thing the international community agrees on regarding this issue – no genocide took place there, according to the accepted definition of the term.
What is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh isn’t the first case of ethnic cleansing that has Israel’s fingerprints on it.
The persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Muslims during the Bosnian War are just two examples out of many.
Israel ought to have from the Jewish people’s own history that when you mix massive amounts of weaponry with a distortion of history, it’s a recipe for disaster.
The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.
Armenian Apostolic holy church the mother see of holy Etchmiadzin, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan Primate of the Diocese of Tavoush
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan (baptismal name Vazgen) was born in 1971, in Gyumri, Armenia, where he received his primary education.
From 1988 to 1994, he studied at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
In 1994, he was ordained to the diaconate that same year by Bishop Anania Arabajyan.
In 1995, he successfully defended his graduate thesis entitled “The Commendatory and Theology of Khosrov of Andzrez on Daily Prayers in our Church” and received a mark of “excellent”.
On July 23, 1995, he was ordained as a celibate priest, by the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin I, of Blessed Memory.
In 1996, he assumed the editorship of the monthly journal publication of the Mother See, “Etchmiadzin”. He continued his work as a vice-president of the newly established Christian Education Center. Father Bagrat provided training to teachers at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan, and in the region of Armavir in the cities of Vagharashapat, Masis, Artashat and Aparan. He was a founding member of “Gantegh” for religious television programming. During this period, he taught the subjects of the Holy Liturgy, Church History and Theology and Armenian Church hymns, in the Gevorkian and Vaskenian Seminaries in Armenia.
From 1996 to 1998, he was the staff bearer of the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin I, of Blessed Memory.
From 1998 to 2000, he studied at the Holy Resurrection Theological College and the University of Leeds, England, specializing in theological and pastoral study and received a Bachelor’s degree. In addition to his studies, he also served the Armenian community of Manchester at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church as a visiting Pastor.
In 2000, by the Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; he was appointed to serve as Dean of the Vaskenian Theological Academy in Lake Sevan.
In 2002, upon the successful defense of his thesis entitled “The Problem of Sacrament of the ‘Anointing the Sick’ in the Armenian Church”, which was published in 2011, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, he received the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet).
In 2002, he was assigned to serve as president of the Executive Committee overseeing the Information Services Department of the Mother See. The duties included advising on spiritual programming on “Shoghagat” television. Father Bagrat also served as a moderator on the series, “To Know the Gospel”.
In 2002, His Holiness Karekin II appointed Father Bagrat as the Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Aragatsotn, Armenia.
On May 2003, the annual Diocesan Assembly of the Armenian Church Diocese of Canada elected Very Reverend Father Bagrat Galstanian to serve as the third Primate of the Diocese.
On 22 June 2003, on the Feast of Holy Etchmiadzin, he was consecrated as a Bishop by His Holiness Karekin II, in the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin.
In 2008, Bishop Bagrat was re-elected as the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Canada for the second time.
On September 21, 2012, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Armenia’s healthcare system: historical, social and theological rim, development prospects of the past, present and the future” in theology and biology Ethics in Montreal’s Concordia University.
In 2013, by Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; Father Bagrat was appointed to serve as the Director of the Office of Social Doctrine of the Mother See.
His Grace Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan has published numerous theological, social, cultural articles, sermons, as well as the work “The issue mystery of the consecration of the diseased in the Armenian Church”, “Thoughts” spiritual meditation booklet.
In 2013, His Grace was awarded the Diamond Jubilee medal of Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2015, by Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; was appointed to serve as the Primate of the Diocese of Tavoush.
On July 25, 2017, by the Order of the Pontiff of All Armenians, His Grace was appointed as a Member of the Supreme Spiritual Council.
Pashinyan Falsely Blames Armenia’s Problems On the Trauma from the Genocide of 1915
By Harut Sassounian,
With each passing day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements contradicting Armenia’s national interests are getting increasingly alarming
Pashinyan started by denigrating Mt. Ararat, the preeminent Armenian symbol. He then mocked Armenia’s coat of arms, questioning why there is a lion on it, claiming that there are no lions in Armenia. With this statement, Pashinyan made three factual errors:
1) He did not seem to realize that the lion symbolizes courage and strength. It has nothing to do with whether there are lions in Armenia or not;
2) There are over a dozen countries that have a lion on their coat of arms without having a single lion in their countries;
3) He is also incorrect that there are no lions in Armenia. A well-known oligarch has had several lions in his Yerevan mansion for many years.
The Prime Minister then made abusive remarks about Armenia’s national anthem using the excuse that it contains the word “enemy.” There are several other countries that have the word enemy in their national anthems.
Pashinyan went on to complain that what is now called “Army of Armenians” (Hayots Panag) should be “Armenia’s Army” (Hayastani Panag), and that textbooks on the “History of Armenians” (Hayots Badmoutyoun) should be called “Armenia’s History” (Hayastani Badmoutyoun). He also wants to distance today’s Armenia from its past by contrasting “Real Armenia” with “Historical Armenia.” He then suggested, in line with Pres. Aliyev’s demand, that Armenia adopt a new constitution deleting the references to Artsakh and the Armenian Genocide.
Last week, I wrote about one of Pashinyan’s top lieutenants’ incredible suggestion to make a list of all 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide. This is an indirect way of questioning the veracity of the Armenian Genocide.
All of these statements indicate that Pashinyan is retreating from Armenia’s and Armenians’ nationalistic stands to appease Azerbaijan and Turkey.
To make matters worse, on April 24, 2024, the Prime Minister issued a statement full of confusing words which reflect his unstable mental state. He referred to the Armenian Genocide as Meds Yeghern (Great Crime) 11 times and only four times as Genocide. Meds Yeghern is a term that Armenians used until the 1940’s to describe the Genocide before the term genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin. Since then, the proper and legal term that should be used is Genocide or Tseghasbanoutyoun, in Armenian.
It does not come as a surprise that Pashinyan, in his April 24 statement, once again obfuscated the meaning of the term genocide thus continuing his attempts to downplay Armenian national symbols and terminology.
Pashinyan complained that due to the Meds Yeghern, Armenia often deals with other countries in a state of trauma or shock: “for this reason, sometimes we cannot correctly distinguish the realities and factors, historical processes and predictable horizons. Maybe this is also the reason why we get new shocks, reliving the trauma of the Armenian Genocide as a legacy and as a tradition.”
By making such a statement, Pashinyan is blaming the trauma from the Genocide of 1915 for his incompetent decisions and mismanagement of the State. While it is true that there is such a thing as transgenerational trauma, I would advise the Prime Minister to look at his own inability to rule rather than the trauma from the Genocide.
Pashinyan then surprisingly suggested that Armenians “stop searching for a homeland, because we have found that homeland, our Promised Land, where milk and honey flow.”
It appears that Pashinyan has lost all perceptions of reality! He is describing Armenia with its existential problems as “the Promised Land where milk and honey flow!” More likely, he and his family are the ones living a luxurious life at the Armenian taxpayers’ expense.
The only people who were pleased with Pashinyan’s April 24 message are the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An indication of that pleasure was the crowd of Turks gathered on April 24 in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., chanting: “Pashinyan, Pashinyan, Pashinyan,” in the faces of Armenian protesters.
The President of Turkey, as he has done on every April 24 ever since 2014, issued a statement trying to fool the international community that he is acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. He actually lumped together Armenians and Turks and everyone else “who passed away or were martyred as a consequence of armed conflicts, rebellions, gang violence and terrorist acts” during “World War I.” He thus misrepresented the Armenian victims of genocide as war casualties. He described “the 1915 events” not as genocide, but a “tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.”
In a direct message to Pashinyan, Erdogan stated that “Türkiye’s ties with Armenia … appear to depend on Yerevan’s stance on the issue [of genocide]… A new order is being established in the region, and it is time to set aside baseless claims. It is time to move forward with realities on the ground. It is better than moving forward with fabrications, tales.” This sounds very similar to what Pashinyan is trying to do. Erdogan made the intent of his message more obvious when he said: “Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan understands this [reality].” As a final dig, Erdogan stated: “I hope Armenia escapes from the darkness it was condemned to, thanks to its diaspora, and chooses the path of new beginnings.”
The true meaning of Erdogan’s words was revealed when the Istanbul Governor’s Office once again banned the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide on April 24. Actions speak louder than words!
“SQUARE”. WE FELL INTO THE HANDS OF TRAITORS AND REALIZED THAT WE HAVE ONE MOTHER – THE CHURCH
The interlocutor of “Hraparak” is Tovmas Arakelyan, youth bearer of Tavush Diocese, blogger.
- As much as the authorities are trying to discredit the Armenian Apostolic Church, it is obvious that the church’s role in society has increased even more today. It has become active, it has come to the fore, the clergy is speaking, they are next to the people. People place their hopes on the church and church members. What causes this?
- According to me, the role of the church has not increased, but people’s attention has come to the church. There is a common thing among our people: when they get sick, they turn to doctors, then to fortune-tellers, then to charlatans, they spend money calling for help from all kinds of false and correct anti-scientific circles, and finally they come to the church. Today we are on the same path, just nationwide. This is a nationwide issue. We have fallen into the hands of various charlatans and traitors and like a prodigal son we have understood that our country has one mother and that is the church. The motherland has one mother, the mother church, and there is no need to look for salvation elsewhere. Only in this way can we return the truth, getting rid of lies and falsehood. The Church is not doing anything artificial today, it is doing what it has done for millennia.
- Doesn’t official propaganda hinder and constrain the church and its members?
- It doesn’t bother us because we have great immunity. The church is able to stand firm in the face of it all. The church characterizes its class as a congregation, we are a congregation, if you notice, all the ministers of the church – Saint Mikael, Saint Bagrat, Saint Arshak, they are all very united, they are in the same ideological lines. Today, when clergymen are targeted, they know that they are not being targeted, but the idea, but we are not alone in our ideology, because our ideology is the ideology of the Armenian Apostolic Church. No one can target Christ and Christ’s church. Who are they now against, the church of Christ?
- And how would you characterize today’s activity of the church? At least during the newly independent history, the apostolic church did not fight against handing over to the country. There was no occasion. And today… some say that churchmen have become involved in politics. What description would you give?
- It is our millennial work – to preach the truth, to keep the truth alive against lies. All this is not new for us. We have a patristic, biblical heritage, and the church’s struggle has always been against lies. Now, what face, image and name the lie is standing in front of us is not important anymore. The satellite of lies is the devil. The same devil that the church has always fought against. The difference is that today there is the Internet, the latest technologies, but what Elder Ghevond did, His Holiness Bagrat does, what Father Khrimyan did, His Holiness does today, I don’t see any difference. The church also shows that one can be independent. What attacks there were by the Russian Empire, the USSR, the Persian and Muslim caliphates, but the Armenian Apostolic Church remained independent with its own agenda, having normal relations with the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, not going to extremes.
- What do you think, will the public trust the church to the end, will the church be able to unite the public? Will there be a result?
- People are always unpredictable, you have to fight and not give up. The Tavush world, as declared by His Holiness Bagrat, is a world of hope. It is necessary to live and fight in the world of hope. We are children of hope. If we have the patience of hope – many have hope but not patience – everything will be fine.
You can read the full article here: https://hraparak.am/post/b76e34195b058e631ac4581ad7cd70ba