Pashinyan is getting ready to tax the church

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, citing Armenian media, in While the anti-government protests of Bagrat Galstanyan, the archbishop of Tavush, continue in Armenia, the political team of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed on May 31 the imposition of higher taxes on Echmiadzin Church.

Etchmiadzin Church and its head Catholicos II Gargin officially organized the demonstration demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on May 7.

The protest started from the Tavush border with the Republic of Azerbaijan. Some residents of several border villages there – especially the village of Kirants – protested against the determination of the border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the return of four villages in the Kazakh region to Baku’s control. Opposition representatives joined the protesters.

Pashinyan’s political allies are now accusing the Echmiadzin Church of meddling in politics.

Alan Simonyan, President The National Assembly of Armenia said on May 21 that the Echmiadzin Church should pay taxes like any other business. The Prime Minister of Armenia himself indicated that such an action will be taken.

It should be noted that the Echmiadzin Church currently pays income tax and customs duties for the goods and materials it buys from abroad. The church is only exempted from real estate tax.

But Tsovinar Vartanian, head of the parliament’s finance and budget committee and members of his party said: “This privilege for the Echmiadzin church may be canceled soon.” We are talking about thousands of properties managed by Echmiadzin. I am not talking about monasteries, but about commercial areas, public areas and hotels. We are currently investigating these cases, and I think this initiative will come to a logical conclusion.

At the same time, Rostam Badasian, Pashinyan’s former personal lawyer, who is currently the head of the Tax Affairs Organization The Armenian government said it is in favor of imposing a 20 percent value-added tax on profits from candles sold to be lit in every church. It is considered an income of Echmiadzin Church.

Vartanian emphasized that the new tax plans have nothing to do with the current political trends of the country. However, Armenian political commentators believe that these events are connected.

Artsvik Minasyan, a member of parliament who is an opponent of Pashinyan and actively participated in the protests against the archbishop, of the government’s plans Armenia criticized.

He said that the “exceptional role” of Echmiadzin Church in the history and social life of the country is fixed in the Armenian Constitution.

Echmiadzin Church has not yet made an official statement about this news .

But last week, Bagrat Galstanyan, in response to Armenian Parliament Speaker Alan Simonyan’s comments, said that the Echmiadzin Church pays taxes like other organizations and has not received any compensation for its confiscated properties during the Soviet Union.

Relations between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Echmiadzin Church and its leader Gargin II have been dark almost since the first day of his rule.

Gargin II and other clergy of the Echmiadzin Church They announced their support for the opposition who demanded the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan and his government immediately after the 2020 war.

These relations especially after the Republic of Azerbaijan regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh. , became more tense.

The last incident happened on May 28. On that day, Gargin II and his companions came to Yaman Sardarabad near Yerevan to lay wreaths and pray to celebrate Independence Day.

But the Armenian police stopped the representatives of the church. And after being informed about the purpose of the visit, they were allowed to enter the complex.

Such actions of the police against the Catholicos of All Armenians were condemned in Etchmiadzin Cathedral and most churches in the Diaspora. Opposition leaders also accused Nikol Pashinyan of such actions against Gargin II.

On May 29, Nikol Pashinyan justified the fact that police officers prevented the arrival of Catholicos II, head of the Armenian Church and The clerics who accompanied him prevented him from going to the memorial complex in Sardarabad.

Before that, on New Year’s Eve 2024, Armenian public television had not broadcast the traditional Catholic Christmas sermon.

The 9th meeting of Azerbaijan and Armenia state border commissions was held on May 15. At the end of this meeting, the relevant protocol was signed.

Later, based on this agreement Delimitation of boundaries and creation of border posts have started.

According to this agreement, the armed forces of Armenia withdrew from four villages in the Kazakh region and their positions were occupied by the border guards of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

It should be said, in the early 1990s, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict caused a conflict between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts were occupied.

As a result of the 44-day war in 2020, Baku took control of those 7 districts and part of Karabakh, and a peacekeeping force Russia deployed in the region.

Baku announced “local anti-terrorist operations” in Karabakh on September 19-20, 2023. Yerevan called the move “ethnic cleansing” and “aggression”.

On September 20, 2023, Karabakh separatists said they had agreed to Baku’s terms. Later, the migration of the Armenian population from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia began.

On September 28, 2023, the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh announced that it would cease its activities. Then many leaders of this separatist republic were arrested and brought to Baku.

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