Pashinyan's party takes on the Church: Armenia's parliament backs the authorities' initiative

Armenia's parliament has debated a bill on creating an investigative commission on the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The initiative of the ruling Civil Contract party to create a commission tasked with studying the "crisis in the AAC" was presented at the parliamentary session by deputy Arman Yeghoyan, who will also head the body.

"The commission will include 11 deputies: seven from Civil Contract, three from the parliamentary faction of the opposition bloc Strong Armenia and one from the parliamentary faction of the opposition bloc Armenia," A. Yeghoyan stated.

The discussion of the document took place amid a boycott by the opposition factions, which accused the authorities of unconstitutional actions against the church and refused to take part in the commission's work.

The creation of the commission was a continuation of the report on the "crisis in the AAC" caused by the actions of its leadership, published on September 24 by the office of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. N. Pashinyan himself stated that the result of the body's work should be legislative initiatives aimed at "ending the seizure of the Church."

In Etchmiadzin, the government's report was called unconstitutional, illegal and contrary to church canons. The AAC emphasized that the document, drawn up at the expense of state funds, is based on slander and "is a manifestation of political reprisal and vindictiveness."

Following the vote, the bill was adopted: 62 deputies voted "for" and one — "against."