BY APPO JABARIAN
No, it is not a constitutional right to violently overthrow a most corrupted Catholicos Karekin II. Back in 2010’s under former Pres. Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia, a timely ques- tion could be, “Can Armenia’s citizens victimized by most corrupted duo Pres. Sargsyan and Armenian Church’s Catholicos Karekin II violently overthrow them?” Again, the answer would be: “No.” In the case of former Pres. Sargsyan, the Armenian civil society had two options: a) In the absence of recall election process, wait for the next suffrage and elect a new leader; b) since the electoral system has been rigged under three previous regimes (1991-2018), resort to mas- sive nationwide protests. When corrupt church leadership and nefarious gov- ernments are in collusion, citizens have no choice but lead marathon struggle to get rid of both. In April 2018, the Velvet Revolution culminated in the resignation of Sargsyan. But in the case of Armenian Apostolic Church, the Pontifical and Diocesan election processes have been systematically rigged since October 1999. Reportedly, the diocesan elections in Eastern and Western U.S., Canada and elsewhere continue to be marred with serious By-Laws violations or obstruction of Democracy in the Armenian Church. What consequences take place when citizens are victimized by Corrupt Church Leaders and nefarious government leaders? Under three successive nefarious governments from 1991-2018, Armenian civil society suffered tremendously as a direct result of corrupt regimes of Pres. Ter-Petrossyan (1991-1998), Robert Kocharyan (1998-2008) and Serzh Sargsy- an (2008-2018) engaging in corrupt and harmful actions against public interest. During the first 27 years since Armenia regained its independence, the rul- ing class was mostly consisted of corrupt, self-serving government bureaucracy which, in my opinion, fits the definition of kleptocracy. The Armenian civil soci- ety has been saddled by ugly capitalism, looting of state assets, economic and so- cial injustice, deterioration of the moral fabric of society, rigged electoral system torpedoing Democracy, non-existence of Rule of Law, systemic weakening of the Armenian state and its most important institutions such as Justice, Health-Social Services and Defence ministries. For nearly three decades, criminal-oligarchic clans looted not only the state but also robbed point- blank entrepreneurs and investors both from the Homeland and Diaspora. During the period 1991-1999 even though cor- ruption had deeply penetrated the government bu- reaucracy, two factors were mitigating the collective pain experienced by the civil society: 1) The exis- tence of strong-willed, most-disciplined, most-feared and respected national hero Vazgen Sargsyan who served as Defense Minister (1991 to 1992; 1995 to 1999) and as Prime Minister (1998-1999); 2) The Armenian Church was in good hands and led by de- vout spiritual leaders and servants – Vazken I Baljian was the Catholicos of All Armenians up until 1994; Karekin I Sarkissian served as the Catholicos of All Armenians (1995- 1999). A TURN FOR THE WORSE
On the dark day of October 27, 1999, two destructive events took place at the same time. Both the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Church’s Governance took a turn for the worse.
On governmental level, the youth-ful, energetic and popular Armenian government leaders — then Prime Minister Vasgen Sargsyan, Armenian Parliament Pres. Karen Demirchyan and other illustrious officials were assassinated inside the Parliament Hall.
On the Church level, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin was hijacked through a rigged pontifical election. As a re-sult, one of the most corrupt primates in former Soviet Armenia then Archbishop Karekin Nersisyan usurped the Holy Seat of Catholicos (Pope) and became Karekin II Nersisyan. He proved to be very destructive for the Homeland and Diaspora Armenians.
Post-Oct. 27, 1999 period: The Armenian civil society’s woes were compounded as two most corrupted clans took the Armenian State and Church into their tentacles: 1) Former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan; 2) The criminal triumvirate Catholicos Karekin II, Western U.S.
Arch. Hovnan Derderian and Arch.
Yezras Nersisyan of Moscow. According to numerous reliable reports, the two clans emerged as the two branches of an organized crime family called
“Karabakh Mafia.”
During the 44-Day War in Fall
2020: It is common knowledge that the “Karabakh Mafia” actively sabotaged Armenian war efforts carrying out Russia’s orders.
Who is behind the “Karabakh Ma-
fia?”
The treacherous Russian Federation’s autocratic president Vladimir Putin and his cronies both in Yerevan, Los Angeles and Moscow.
Why is former Soviet Kremlin
backing the “Karabakh Mafia?
The leaders of the Karabakh Mafia are overwhelmingly under Russian secret service FSB agency, the successor of the Soviet KGB.
The 2018 Velvet Revolution debased and swept away most of the deeply entrenched three-decades-old government kleptocracy. Currently Armenia is on the road to becoming a vibrant democracy with fast-growing economy, strong defense and consolidated national security. Since 2021, Armenia has been proactive in diversifying its foreign economic, political and military alliances.
In a recent televised interview with Armenian Times TV, political analyst Mr. Azat Arshakyan underlined that it is imperative that Armenia complete the process of decolonization from Russia and end the cycle of being colonized by any foreign power.
To the credit of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia has been taking pragmatic and courageous steps in freeing the republic from Russian colonization; consolidating its sover-eignty, independence and defense.
But the Armenian Church has been colonized by succeeding regimes of Czarist Russian Empire (1800’s-1917); former Soviet Russia (1920-1991);
The Russian Federation (1991-2026).
Can the Armenan State step in to assist the Faithful in freeing the Church from the criminal-oligarchic church leaders?
Armenia as a sovereign and independent state, and an integral part of the Free World, has the obligations to protect its citizens against the Russian-Armenian mafia that has taken in its tentacles the entire Armenian Church branches both in former Soviet space including Armenia and in the far corners of the Diaspora including Los Angeles, New York, Canada and else-where.