Author Lusine Balyan

Their goal was to destroy the Armenian identity not only through physical extermination, but also through changing religion and nationality, and destroying cultural heritage. By order of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ottoman Empire, Talaat Pasha, orphaned Armenian children were to be distributed to Muslim families in settlements where the Armenian element was absent.

 

The court has decided to extend the preventive measure of Archbishop Bagrat for two months. Lawyer Tatevik Soghoyan stated that this is the authorities’ response to the mass peaceful rallies that began in 2024. Defense attorney Hovhannes Khudoyan noted that there is no data in the case that would prove the illegality of the actions of Archbishop Bagrat or the other defendants or indicate any action that could have harmed anyone. Archbishop Bagrat has been in custody for about nine months.

 

The Mother See strongly condemns the consistent destruction of Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage by the Azerbaijani authorities. The Azerbaijani authorities have razed to the ground the St. Hakob Church in Stepanakert and the khachkars and monuments in the surrounding area, which, according to Azerbaijani sources, were allegedly illegal structures subject to dismantling. The Mother See also considers the information received about the destruction of the Mother Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God in Stepanakert as extremely worrying. Holy Etchmiadzin calls on the Head of the Armenian government to take urgent and effective steps to prevent the systematic appropriation and destruction of Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

 

 

Today, in the Christian world, there are two large groups of Orthodox churches, which have the same origins, but were divided in the 5th century. The Armenian Apostolic Church belongs to the family of the Ancient Eastern Orthodox churches, does not belong to the family of the Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition, and is Orthodox in the sense of true faith. Our holy patriarchs, the fathers of our church, were called defenders of Orthodoxy, Orthodox enlighteners.

One more will soon be added to the dozens of worries of those living in border and remote villages. According to the order of the Ministry of Education, Science and Higher Education, schools with a small number of students must be liquidated. According to this calculation, 229 schools have appeared on the list, of which 48 are in Syunik and 47 in Shirak. We have tried to summarize what serious problems specialists and community residents see in our video.

The Holy See strongly condemns the inclusion of objectionable provisions on the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church in the election program of the “Civil Contract” party. The party’s election program includes the mandatory agenda of Church reform, revision of the charter, removal of the Catholicos of All Armenians, and holding new Catholicosate elections, which is a clear violation of the constitutional order, the right of the Church to self-government, as well as the fundamental international principles of freedom of conscience and religion.

 

In the main stage of the trial, the court will examine the presented evidence. The defense has principled objections and disagreements. According to them, not only is the evidence in the case not individualized, which does not allow us to determine who exactly the evidence refers to, but the recordings and materials included in the case have not yet been properly examined.

 

At the court hearing in the case of the brother of the Catholicos of All Armenians and his son, the defense lawyers demanded to summon to court and interrogate the police officer of the Vagharshapat community department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who conducted the interrogation of the main witness in the case, Garnik Ghazaryan. The defense suspects that Garnik Ghazaryan testified against the Nersisyans under the influence of Harutyun Mkrtchyan. According to the lawyers, there are obvious contradictions and contradictory facts between the witness’s testimony and the interrogations, but the most remarkable thing is that the personal data field of the witness in the testimony contains Harutyun Mkrtchyan’s data. The judge granted the lawyers’ motions and the police officer who interrogated the witness and the police officer accompanying the “Republic” party’s campaign will be interrogated.

 

The defense has filed a motion with the court to request from the NSS the operational data on the basis of which wiretaps were conducted for about a year. The attorneys argue that if these materials are not provided to the court, all evidence obtained in the case should be recognized as illegal due to the lack of a legal basis. Public prosecutors have argued that the motion should be rejected or postponed at this stage, since evidence related to the results of operational-investigative measures has not yet been received.