Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan does not yet intend to leave the Church
During a meeting with journalists on December 1, Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, clarified that he does not currently intend to cease his service in the Armenian Apostolic Church. He emphasized that he does not rule out the possibility of changing his mind at some point if he feels it would be beneficial for conducting an objective investigation or eliminating misunderstandings among the people.
Archbishop Arshak also spoke about the criminal proceedings initiated by the Investigative Committee and stressed that the article attributed to him is incorrect, and the legal procedure for the examination of the recordings has been violated. He reminded that the original source of these videos is still unknown and “ownerless.”
“The criminal case should be initiated not on the grounds of violating the secrecy of my personal life, but because an attempt is being made to sow enmity and hatred towards me,” said Archbishop Arshak. He emphasized that the secrecy of his personal life and the personal life of any member of his family has not been violated, and the prosecutor’s office must find the person who fabricated and disseminated the videos.
Archbishop Arshak also revealed that his relative, his uncle’s wife, was questioned within the framework of the proceedings, which relates to the accusations of sexual contact allegedly attributed to him by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. It should be noted that back in May of this year, Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page, “Archbishop, go continue to ‘dompel’ [a derogatory term for having sex] your uncle’s wife, what business do you have with me?” Following this, on October 25, a newly opened Telegram channel named “Armenian WikiLeaks” published a video of an intimate nature, which was attributed to Archbishop Arshak.
The clergyman responded to the video by noting that he “cannot, even with an overexertion of forces, engage in refuting fabrications and slander,” and considered it reasonable to ignore them. On November 28, the Investigative Committee announced that the person depicted in the videos, according to the results of an examination conducted on November 25, is Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan.
Archbishop Arshak also stressed that the uproar created around him is linked to his political position, as it does not align with the desires of the current government. Archbishop Arshak has repeatedly made statements calling for the authorities to step down. According to him, after publicizing these positions, he was invited to the National Security Service several times.