Monday,
Plans For Giant Statute Of Christ Spark Controversy In Armenia
• Susan Badalian
Armenia - Businessman Gagik Tsarukian (right) and Economy Minister Vahan
Kerobian (center) attend a ground-breaking ceremony on Mount Hatis, July 9, 2022.
Ignoring objections from the Armenian Apostolic Church, archeologists and many
other people, Armenia’s government has allowed a wealthy businessman to erect a
giant statue of Jesus Christ on a mountain near Yerevan.
However, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture unexpectedly ordered a
halt to construction of the monument one day after it officially began on
Saturday in the presence of a government member.
The businessman, Gagik Tsarukian, announced plans to build the statue on Mount
Hatis in January, saying that it must serve as a “guardian of our country and
people” and impress the outside world. The Armenian Apostolic Church objected to
the idea, saying that is inappropriate and goes against Armenian Christian
tradition.
That did not stop Tsarukian from organizing a contest for the statue and
announcing its winner in May even before securing the government’s approval of
his project.
The statue designed by sculptor Armen Manvelian will stand 33 meters (108.3
feet) tall atop a 44-meter pedestal to be perched on Hatis. The mountain itself
stands more than 2,500 meters above sea level.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian described the project as “acceptable” as he
chaired a cabinet meeting in Yerevan last Thursday. He argued that the statue of
Jesus Christ will give Armenia a new tourist attraction.
Pashinian’s economy minister, Vahan Kerobian, also put the emphasis on
commercial benefits of Tsarukian’s supposedly faith-based undertaking when he
attended a ground-breaking ceremony held at the summit of Hatis two days later.
“Just like in the case of other investors, we are ready to do our best to ensure
that the project is put into practice as soon as possible and without hurdles,”
said Kerobian.
Armenia - A maquette of a planned statue of Jesus Christ.
“We believe in Jesus,” Tsarukian reasoned, for his part. “The whole world has
[statues of Christ]. Why shouldn’t we have too?”
A spokesman for the Armenian Church’s Mother See in Echmiadzin, Rev. Yesayi
Artenian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that it remains opposed to the project.
He said that the ancient church, to which the vast majority of Armenians
nominally belong, has not erected or worshipped statues of Jesus throughout its
more than 1,700-year existence.
In an unexpected statement issued late on Sunday, the Ministry of Education,
Science, Culture and Sports said Mount Hatis is home to about two dozen ancient
monuments legally protected by the state. It singled out the ruins of a Bronze
Age fortress discovered at the mountain’s summit by an Armenian-Italian
archeological expedition in 2019.
The statement warned that Armenian law does not allow any construction at such
sites without special government permission. It said that Tsarukian’s eponymous
charity must therefore suspend all construction work carried out there.
Education and Culture Minister Vahram Dumanian on Monday declined to clearly
explain why he did not voice these objections when Pashinian gave the green
light to the project last week.
Armenia - Historian Hamlet Petrosian speaks to RFE/RL, .
Hamlet Petrosian, a prominent Armenian historian and archeologist, said that
significant damage has already been inflicted on Hatis’s cyclopean fortress
stretching back thousands of years.
“They have covered a large part of the fortress with soil to build a platform,”
Petrosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Several parts the [newly built] road
[leading to the summit] pass through fortress walls. There is no doubt that
nothing will be left there if the construction continues.”
Some representatives of the Armenian tourism sector echoed these concerns. They
said that Hatis, which is located about 30 kilometers northeast of Yerevan, is a
tourist attraction in itself given the rich historical heritage lying on its top
and slopes.
“As a specialist and citizen, I find the existence of such a statute
unacceptable,” said Yasha Solomonian of the Armenian Association of Tour Guides
Reacting to the ministry statement, the Gagik Tsarukian Foundation said on
Monday that work on the statue of Jesus and its equally huge pedestal will not
start until it secures all necessary permits from “competent state bodies.” But
it made clear that the construction of the road as well as water and gas supply
lines for the site will continue as planned.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets Gagik Tsarukian, March 18, 2021.
Pashinian’s swift approval of Tsarukian’s extravagant project came as a surprise
given the uneasy relationship between the two men. The tycoon leads the
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) which claims to remain in opposition to the
current government.
As recently as in September 2020, Tsarukian was arrested on charges of vote
buying which he described as government retribution for his calls for
Pashinian’s resignation. He was freed on bail one month later. The 65-year-old
has avoided publicly criticizing the government since his party failed to win
any parliament seats in last year’s general elections.
As well as giving the nod to the statue of Jesus, Pashinian’s cabinet on
Thursday decided not to challenge a court ruling that revoked a hefty penalty
imposed by tax authorities on Armenia’s largest casino belonging to Tsarukian.
The Ministry of Finance revoked its operating license shortly after Tsarukian
was indicted in June 2020. A company operating the casino is understood to have
regained the license last year.
Armenian Opposition To Keep Boycotting Parliament
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Opposition leader Ishkhan Saghatelian holds a news conference in
Yerevan, .
A leader of Armenia’s main opposition coalition said on Monday that it has no
plans to stop boycotting sessions of the parliament and trying to topple Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian with street protests.
“You can be sure that our voters do not want us to go the parliament and deal
with secondary issues there,” Ishkhan Saghatelian told a news conference. “What
our voters want is even more extreme and resolute actions than what we are doing
now.”
“Our agenda is in the streets,” he said. “That’s how issues will be solved. We
must shake up the movement and attain our declared goal. There is no other
option, path anymore.”
Opposition lawmakers began the boycott in April ahead of daily antigovernment
protests launched by their Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances against Pashinian’s
apparent readiness to make major concessions to Azerbaijan in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The boycott is continuing despite the ruling Civil
Contract party’s threats to strip the oppositionists of their parliament seats.
Armenia - Empty seats of opposition deputies boycotting a session of parliament,
Yerevan, June 14, 2022.
The parliamentary majority has not yet carried out those threats. Instead, it
has dismissed Saghatelian and another opposition leader, Vahe Hakobian, as the
parliament’s deputy speaker and chairman of its economic committee respectively.
Virtually all other opposition deputies holding leadership positions in the
National Assembly have resigned in protest.
Saghatelian again did not exclude that the three dozen lawmakers representing
Hayastan and Pativ Unem will themselves decide to resign from the parliament.
But he said such a dramatic move would be premature at this juncture.
With Pashinian refusing to step down, the opposition decided on June 14 to hold
major rallies on a weekly basis. Attendance at those rallies visibly declined
this month.
Saghatelian downplayed this fact, saying that the opposition coalition is now
setting up regional chapters to “eliminate shortcomings” and reinvigorate its
“resistance movement.” It is also reaching out to other opposition groups and
individuals critical of the government, he said.
Armenian, Turkish Leaders Hold First Phone Call
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian an Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian discussed ongoing efforts to normalize relations between their
countries during their first-ever phone conversation on Monday.
“The leaders stressed the importance of the bilateral process of normalizing
relations between their countries, which will also help to strengthen peace and
stability in the region,” read the official Armenian readout of the call.
According to the statement, both Erdogan and Pashinian said they expect a quick
implementation of agreements to open the Turkish-Armenian border to citizens of
third countries and to allow mutual cargo shipments by air.
The Turkish presidential press office released a virtually identical statement
on the conversation cited by the official Anatolia news agency.
Special envoys of the two neighboring states reached the agreements during a
fourth round of normalization talks held in Vienna on July 1. The Turkish and
Armenian foreign ministries said after the talks that “third-country citizens”
will be allowed to cross the land border “at the earliest date possible.” They
gave no possible dates.
Pashinian instructed Armenian government agencies last Thursday to closely
cooperate with their Turkish counterparts for implementing the agreements “as
soon as possible.” Visiting Armenia’s Armavir province on Saturday, he inspected
the ongoing reconstruction of a local road leading to the Turkish border.
Armenia - Workers rebuild a road in Armavir province leading to the Turkish
border, July 9, 2022.
Ankara has long made the opening of the border and establishment of diplomatic
relations with Yerevan conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has
repeatedly said that his government coordinates the Turkish-Armenian dialogue
with Baku.
Armenian leaders have said, for their part, that they want an unconditional
normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties.
Monday’s phone call marked Pashinian’s first-ever direct contact with Erdogan.
Pashinian reportedly offered to meet with Erdogan last September. The Turkish
leader appeared to make such a meeting conditional on Armenia agreeing to open a
transport corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave.
Earlier in 2021, he echoed Azerbaijan’s demands for Armenian recognition of
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian opposition leaders denounced at the time what they described as
Pashinian’s secret overtures to Erdogan. They maintain that Ankara has not
dropped its preconditions for normalizing Turkish-Armenian ties.
Turkey provided decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan during the six-week
war in Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire in November 2020.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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