Hovannisian Denounces Church Statement for Mixing Christianity with Politics
Politics, Daily news | ankakh | March 16, 2013 11:44
Yerevan—Raffi K. Hovannisian’s hunger strike entered its fifth day atLiberty Square. The poet Violet Grigoryan early in the morning joined Hovannisian for a one-day hunger strike of her own. In the afternoon, Hovannisian led a Barevolution victory rally in front of many thousands with Nikol Pashinyan, Garegin Chugaszyan, Suren Zolyan, Armen Poghosyan, Arsen Ghambaryan, Rafael Hambardzumyan, and other speakers.
During his speech, Hovannisian denounced a statement released by the office of Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme leader of theArmenianApostolicChurchwho was quick to congratulate Serzh Sargsyan a day after his false victory. The statement criticized Hovannisian’s hunger strike and democratic movement. “Church and state should not be appendages of one another,” Hovannisian said. “Do not politicize our church and insert the Virgin Mary into a civic struggle.”
Raffi Hovannisian also strongly condemned recent comments by European People’s Party (EPP) president Wilfried Martens for disgracing European values in his praise of Serzh Sargsyan’s election theft and his tone-deaf comments regarding the falsified election results. “How does he know that I expected 20 percent and must be happy with 37 percent? Whose script is he reading? You can guess,” Hovannisian said. “If this is Europe, then it looks likeArmeniawill have to teachEuropeabout the highest European values and not the other way around.”
Hovannisian once again threatened to reassess the Heritage Party’s membership in that “false and anti-European organization” should President Martens’ comments become the official stance of the EPP.
Saturday at 5pm there will be a Barevolution rock concert at 5pm featuring the bands Vortan Garmir and Voskan Hayots.
From Sunday to Thursday, civic forums will be convened onLiberty Squarefrom 5-630 pm in prepartion for the new Armenian government.
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