A outstanding Canadian cleric of the Armenian Apostolic Church is amongst greater than a dozen individuals Armenia’s safety providers have arrested in connection to an alleged coup try this week.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who heads the Tavush Diocese in Armenia’s northeast, grabbed nationwide consideration final 12 months within the Southern Caucasus nation when he started main a protest motion asking for the resignation of its prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and even saying he could be open to changing him as Armenia’s chief.
That motion picked up steam following land concessions made by Armenia to neighbouring Azerbaijan that concerned the handover of Armenian border villages.
Galstanyan, a twin Canadian and Armenian citizen, served as primate of the Armenian Diocese of Canada in Montreal from 2003 to 2013.
Pashinyan praised the work of regulation enforcement on his Fb web page, writing in Armenian that they prevented a “massive and despicable” plan to destabilize his authorities by means of acts of terrorism and seize energy.
He additionally linked to an announcement by Armenia’s Investigative Committee, which had carried out the arrests.
The committee stated it had seized explosives and weaponry, and accused Galstanyan’s protest motion of planning to conduct bombings and stage accidents on main roads to disrupt visitors.
Galstanyan’s motion has denied the fees, calling them “fiction.”
Reached for remark, International Affairs Canada stated it’s “conscious {that a} Canadian citizen was arrested in Armenia,” and added “consular officers are involved with native authorities to collect extra info.”
The arrests come after escalating tensions between the Armenian authorities and the nation’s Apostolic Church, which has been more and more crucial of Pashinyan after Armenia’s loss to Azerbaijan in a 2020 conflict over the then Armenian-controlled enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan’s navy marketing campaign in September 2023 that pressured the territory’s roughly 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee, abandoning their houses.
Final month, Pashinyan accused the top of the church, Catholicos Karekin II, of secretly fathering a baby regardless of a vow of celibacy. An Armenian priest then implied in a social media publish Pashinyan is circumcised and never a real Christian. Earlier this week, Pashinyan took to Fb to say he is able to invite each the catholicos and the priest over and “show in any other case.”
Citing confidentiality, International Affairs Canada stated it can not disclose additional details about its involvement since Galstanyan’s arrest.
The Canadian authorities inaugurated its embassy in Armenia in October 2023, and has not too long ago staffed up its presence there because of the battle between neighbouring Iran and Israel, which has triggered an exodus from the Iran-Armenia border, together with some Canadians.
In November 2022, Galstanyan attended the opening of a smaller Canadian diplomatic workplace, an honourary consul, as a visitor.
In 2020, within the remaining days of the conflict in opposition to Azerbaijan, Galstanyan made waves on social media with a efficiency of an Armenian liturgical hymn at a cathedral within the Nagorno-Karabakh metropolis of Shushi, at the same time as bombs could possibly be heard touchdown exterior the construction.
Former immigration minister Jason Kenney had shared the video on his social media channels on the time, calling Galstanyan a “pricey good friend” and saying it was touching to see.
