Issue #1759, December 11-17
BY APPO JABARIAN
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine (English-language print edition)
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In a Dec. 9 commentary, commentator Alis Sogomonyan wrote: “Et Tu? Karekin II? You are not my Catholicos, Karekin II, because the Catholicos I imagine must have an innocent soul, a clean biography; be a true spiritual leader who dedicates his life to God, and be a servant of the people. I am not convinced that before becoming a celibate priest, you really lived the life of a hermit for 40 days. Of course not! You do not have a clear biography, Karekin II. Can I remind you how Vasken I with Blessed Memory whisked you out of Germany? What criminal acts did you carry there? Did you forget? Your biography is not clean because you became a Catholicos (not elected) through bribery. Your biography is not clean because the Catholicos has no right to have illegitimate children. Shall I remind you of the seventh of the 10 commandments – ‘Do not commit adultery.’”
Sogomonyan continued: “You do not have a clean biography, because, as Catholicos, you are engaged in business. Now you, Karekin II are demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation fulfilling ‘Robik’ (Robert) Kocharyan’s order. Because this movement, this mess is Robert Kocharyan’s plan. He is not executing it covertly, but openly, by giving interviews and directing (the efforts); by investing huge sums of money stolen from the people during his time (as president)! The criminal Robik is supported by criminal Karekin II. What kind of Catholicos are you? If you are an enabler of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan who are rejected by the people, of course in return of ‘favors’ by them. Didn’t you secure a return favor from them that allowed you to demolish the language institute, the center of science and culture in the center of Yerevan, to build a castle-residence for yourself? Were your predecessors less Catholicos than you who live in a modest small two-story residence next to the Academy? No, you are ‘special!’ You desire a huge multi-story palace. You cared less about the employees of the 4-5 scientific institutes who were evicted from the buildings of the Language Institute! Shameless and greedy Catholicos Karekin II.
She added: “Of course, (in order to please your allies Kocharyan and Sargsyan) you are now compelled to join the chorus that is currently demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation, because Pashinyan would not allow you to satiate your whims and demands that are unworthy of a fake religious person. He would not allow you, as a Catholicos, to nurture your personal business enterprises — your own restaurants on Proshyan Street; your own chain of shops in different parts of Yerevan; your own (commercial) hospital; your own pharmacy… Oh, by the way, you harbored a criminal, a defendant — your dear chummy Robert ‘Robik’ Kocharyan in your own Izmirlian hospital.”
She lambasted Catholicos Karekin II: “Now, you are fulfilling the wishes of that criminal who is hated by the People, with whom you’re involved in bloody events: March 1, 2008 (massacre of over ten innocent, peaceful protesters in the heart of Yerevan.), October 27, 1997 (Armenian Assembly wholesale killings of Armenian government leadership – Prime Minister Vasgen Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan and other top leaders) … I shall not forget to remind you, Karekin II, that through October 27 murders you became a Catholicos. On the day of the assassinations, you deliberately disallowed the news of the murder at the National Assembly from circulating inside the Holy See of Etchmiadzin Mother Cathedral, where the last voting was taking place. You deliberately blocked the spread of the news during the pontifical elections… You are a scoundrel! (You’re nothing less than a) scoundrel! It was only after you secured your ‘appointment’ — not legitimate election, that announced the news through tactical delay. You acted as if you were ‘surprised.’ But you knew all along about the premeditated plan. Those (delegates from around the world that had convened) in the church did not understand your trick. Was it so that even God didn’t know what was going on? For you, it didn’t matter. Because you are neither a servant of God nor a servant of the people! You are a self-serving scoundrel, satisfying your endless immoral whims through nefarious acts.”
Speaking of Karekin II’s true persona, she pointed: “Good-hearted faithful were donating to the Mother See, why were you filling the city of Yerevan with churches, when with those funds our people could have built hundreds of houses in the earthquake-stricken disaster zone, where people were still living in dilapidated quarters for more than thirty years? How many pennies are your sermons to the faithful really worth? In general, they are worthless. How can one believe in their sincerity, when a entire family of genuine faithful was shot dead in Gyumri while the Catholicos maintained “wise” silence? I understand. If the sitting the president of the country Serzh Sargsyan did not sympathize, how could you sympathize to the Avetisyans of Gyumri, on the tragedy that befell them, let alone empathize? Shall I mention the incidents 1) When the people were so shocked by your silent attitude when (the so-called) Catholicos ignored the March 1 tragedy that had occurred causing the loss of 10 innocent victims? 2) When hundreds of innocent demonstrators were severely beaten, and hundreds were wrongfully prosecuted based on false reports by the Police, and they were thrown into prison? … Weren’t these nefarious acts executed during the rule of your sponsors-allies Robert ‘Robik’ Kocharyan, Catholicos Karekin II? Only you can easily forget those incidents but not the relatives of the victims, the injured, the falsely imprisoned! It is easy for you to forget them, Catholicos Karekin II, but they still pester causing pain and insult, and it is only fair for them to have a negative attitude towards the criminal ‘Robik,’ by whose instruction you have now entered into political ploys.”
Highlighting Karekin II’s vindictiveness, she added: “And you became interested in the city of Gyumri only when Prime Minister of the country Nikol Pashinyan went to offer condolences to the people of Gyumri on the 32nd anniversary of the earthquake. What did you do? You instructed your lackey deputy, the primate of the Shirak Diocese Achapahyan, not to perform a liturgy in presence of PM Pashinyan. So, you and your so-called spiritual co-servant Achapahyan are calling yourselves spiritual leaders who are involving in political ploys? Are you not at all concerned with the worries, the sorrows and the pains of the faithful people? You are both Satanists to me, whose existence in the country is very well described by Shakespeare the Great: ‘Hell is empty. All the devils are here.’”
Aram I of Cilicia Catholicosate didn’t escape Sogomonyan’s blunt criticism as she lambasted him: “If Aram I of Cilicia Catholicosate is joining you in your destructive calls, it is only because he is subservient to the interests of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun, which he is forced to defend by interfering inappropriately in the internal affairs of Armenia from far away Lebanon. Aram I’s misdeed has tarnished his own reputation.
Can Karekin II be in the company of Ghevonts Yerets, Khrimyan Hayrik, Vazgen I Vehapar, and Gomidas Vartabed? Sogomonyan lamented: “Karekin II, you are not the spiritual servant that I imagined, because the real spiritual servant I imagined was Ghevonts Yerets, with whom the crowd went to wage a war of salvation of faith at the Battle of Avarayr. The spiritual servants that I imagined were Khrimyan Hayrik, Vazgen I Vehapar, and Gomidas Vartabed. You, Karekin II, have nothing to do with spirituality. Is it a coincidence that for more than a decade now, there have been calls from the Diaspora and Armenia to overthrow you? But you are very hard-headed!”
Sogomonyan concluded: “Finally, you have always been involved in efforts to defend the interests of the criminal Robert Kocharyan. And now also, you are imprudently demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation in service of and through the instigation of your ally Robert Kocharyan. Your acts are unbecoming of a spiritual leader. These acts are designed to keep your businesses safe. These are disgusting intentions. You took advantage of the softness of the velvet of the revolution causing your protégé ‘Robo’ (Robert Kocharyan) avoid staying behind bars and now is provoking riots in the country. In the preceding paragraph, I sed the words ‘spiritual leader’ out of my deep respect for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, not you, your godless self! You are only superficially connected with the Mother See. All main interests are with your businesses, your personal pleasures and whims. Like ‘Robik’ (Robert Kocharyan), you are petrified at the prospect losing all your perks. It is only through Kocharyan’s instructions that you have entered into political ploys and conspiracy. It is a pity that my country does not have a Catholicos.
After decades of outright abuse of the Armenian people in Armenia-Artsakh and Diaspora by succeeding regimes under former Pres. Levon Ter-Petrosyan (1991-1998), former Pres. Robert Kocharyan (1998-2008), Serzh Sargsyan (2008-2018), Armenians everywhere exhibit widespread discontent.
Now a political renaissance has become the main driving force behind growing global Armenian demands for the formation of a National Truth Commission to fully investigate all the regimes including the current Pashinyan administration.
In addition to the proposed National Truth Commission, Armenians in Armenia and Diaspora are bracing for collective efforts to rescue the Armenian Apostolic Church from total destruction. A worldwide Armenian Church Reform movement is seeking full accountability from both Catholicoi Karekin II of Etchmiadzin Catholicosate and Aram I of Cilicia Catholicosate.
Hijacking of Armenia, Artsakh, Diaspora and Armenian Catholicosates of Cilicia and Holy Etchmiadzin by special interest groups and mafias continues to cause worldwide uproar. An increasing number of world Armenians firmly believe that the old days of feudalism have come to an end.
Furthermore, Armenia-Artsakh and Diaspora deserve much better than old kleptocratic regimes and Sorosites undermining Armenia’s statehood and Armenian nation’s common future.