BY APPO JABARIAN
Looking at the track record of Arch. Derderian’s Western Diocese in the court case Western Diocese vs. Petros Taglyan (Case Number: 18STCV02144), one can easily see an overflow of legal paperwork through filing motion after motion by the Diocese.
This is nothing new for a primate who has now ‘earned’ the reputation of being a conniving, vindictive, cash-hungry and an over ambitious warlord.
A simple comparison:
The behavior of Arch. Derderian’s Western Diocese in it’s court battle against a major benefactor Petros Taglyan Is reminiscent of its 2004-2005 attempt to drown another benefactor and a targeted victim — Harout Aga Sarkisian and his partner Harout Hallajian of Alavjian Catering at Western Diocese (Case Number: BC316046).
Mr Taglyan was a benefactor of the church long before Arch. Derderian and St. John Garabed Armenian Church Pastor Manouk Markarian arrived in Western U.S.
When Mr Taglyan first met Arch. Derderian 15 years ago and Pastor Manouk about 20 years ago, he was clueless about Derderian’s tarnished background In Canada, Armenia and Lebanon, and Markarian’s defrocking In Armenia by His Holiness Vasken I Catholicos of All Armenians.
Like many Western Diocese members and supporters, Mr. Taglyan wasn’t aware of the fact Derderian was literally expelled from the Armenian Church Canada Diocese because of monetary theft and gross mismanagement. Derderian was also expelled from the Armenian Church seminary in Lebanon because of sexual misconduct and his reputation as a gossip peddler.
When Derderian first arrived and became primate of Western Diocese, virtually
The very first time Taglyan started finding out about Derderian’s true persona was in the case Western Diocese vs Alavjian Catering at the Diocese.
When Mr Aga Sarkisian first approached Mr Taglyan sharing his concern about Derderian’s real intentions to misappropriate the new catering business that had cost Mr. Aga Sarkisian close to one million dollars, Mr Taglyan attempted to convince Derderian to abstain from defrauding Mr Aga Sarkisian . Mr Taglyan had also advised Derderian to avoid ending up in court in order to save Derderian and the Church from imminent embarrassment in a court of law. From the onset Mr Taglyan was convinced that because of existing agreement Derderian and the Diocese would end up losing the court battles. Above and beyond the embarrassment issue , Mr Taglyan didn’t think that it was morally correct to defraud a church benefactor who has been lured by the church into a business proposition. Mr Aga Sarkisian was in reality trying to help the church.
But Derderian didn’t care about the church embarrassment issue saying that he stood to pocket lots of money. He was fixated on making lots of money. He cared less about morality and about being summoned to the court as long as he “would make lots of money.”
Mr Taglyan was shocked, surprised and disgusted from such a response. He considered unbecoming of the head of the Armenian Church or any church for hat matter. When Derderian first arrived in U.S. Mr Taglyan was impressed with Derderian’s projected image as a devout Christian and a spiritual servant. He never expected that Derderian would turn out to be a scoundrel. Mr Taglyan never anticipated that a day would come when he would start noticing such a strong hatred against fellow Christians and Armenians.
After Derderian lost the case against Aga Sarkisian which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Diocese, Mr Taglyan felt that Derderian may have wizened and would refrain from resorting to such outlandish behavior against other good-meaning church people and the community as a whole. Taglyan thought that Derderian would come to his senses and be more humane with the community he was hired to serve; be more serving for the flock rather than being egocentric and self-serving.
A close look at the two distinct cases can help easily detect a striking similarity in tactic of wearing down the opposing side or the targeted victim in order to discourage the victim from defending his violated rights.
Arch Derderian’s style of dumping countless legal motions in a court of law can be very financially, emotionally and morally exhausting for the opposing side— the targeted victim.
In the mainstream American society, it’s not an uncommon practice in civil lawsuits among feuding sides to resort to legal war of attrition, but witnessing a church leadership like Western Diocese resort to a similar legal tactic in a case involving any Christian church against own members whose prime and exclusive purpose is nothing more than helping the church is astonishing.
But for a church to abuse the goodwill of its members and target them with blackmail, character assassination, legal war of attrition through an unwarranted and hyper costly avalanche of motions is considered a blatant attempt by the church to coerce the victim into silence and surrender in favor of the perpetrator — in this case Derderian’s Western Diocese.
The unforeseen circumstance in the case of Benefactor Mr Taglyan:
The community is fortunate that in both cases — ‘ Western Diocese vs. Petros Taglyan’ and ‘Western Diocese vs Alavjian Catering,’ the benefactors used some kind of a legal device that would protect them against unexpected circumstances.
While Mr Taglyan was doing everything in his power to help the church –WITHOUT INVESTING A SINGLE PENNY to eventually become the beneficiary of a fully paid $20 million complex with A free and clear title, all of a sudden, because of blind, uncontrollable greed on the part of Primate Derderian and Pastor Markarian, he faced the danger of being defrauded out of millions of dollars at the hands of the same people he was trying to help.
Mr. Taglyan is relieved that the American justice system is a healthy functioning judicial system that sides with fairness and justice. Presiding Judge Randolph M. Hammock issued a verdict in favor of the intended victim Mr. Taglyan stopping Dederian-Markarian’s attempt to railroad Mr. Taglyan out of millions of dollars. Western Diocese lost and was ordered to pay all legal fees. In 2019, the same duo opened a motion against the court claiming that Judge Hammock was biased against them. Again they lost and were ordered to pay all legal fees.
In the court case ‘Western Diocese vs Alavjian Catering,’ the Judge issued an injunction in FAVOR of Mr. Aga Sarkisian and Mr. Hallajian and the next day as per court orders, Arch. Derderian gave a set of new keys to the intended victims.
And now the cat is out of the bag and Derderian’s and fellow clansmen’s wrongdoings have come to the forefront of the community’s awareness. An increasing number of Western Diocese members and supporters are calling for Derderian’s resignation.