CSI president writes letter of solidarity to Archbishop Bagrat  Galstanyan

ArmInfo.President of the Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Dr. John Eibner, wrote a 

letter of solidarity to Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the informal leader of the Tavush for Motherland movement.

CSI's international president, Dr. John Eibner, has written a letter 

of support to Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of Armenia's 

"Tavush for the Homeland" protest movement, as tens of thousands of 

Armenians have gathered to demonstrate against their government's 

concessions to Azerbaijan.

Archbishop Galstanyan serves as primate of the diocese of Tavush, a 

region where the Armenian government recently announced its decision 

to unilaterally cede strategic territory to Azerbaijan - in order, it 

said, to prevent an Azerbaijani invasion.

A new protest movement

The government's decision led to weeks of protests and civil 

disobedience by Armenians in Tavush. The protestors feared losing 

their villages or having Azerbaijani troops - who regularly fire on 

Armenian villages along the border - stationed so close to their 

homes.

On Friday, May 3, Archbishop Galstanyan set out on a march from 

Tavush to Yerevan with a group of 100 supporters, a march they called 

"Tavush for the Homeland." On Thursday, May 9, they arrived in 

Yerevan's Republic Square and were greeted by 30,000 supporters. 

Daily protests against the Armenian government have continued in the 

capital since then.

In his letter, Eibner praised Archbishop Galstanyan's "courageous 

efforts" and argued that Azerbaijan's attacks on Armenia are "a 

continuation of the Armenian Genocide process." "The voice of the 

multitude you lead must be heard by the faction in power in Yerevan," 

he said.

Threat of war

According to Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia had 

offered to withdraw from the disputed territory in Tavush in exchange 

for Azerbaijani troops withdrawing from the 214 square kilometers of 

Armenian territory it has occupied since May 2021. When Azerbaijan 

refused, Pashinyan decided to withdraw from the territory anyway, 

saying, "We must not allow a war to start."

The land concessions follow Azerbaijan's conquest last year of 

Nagorno Karabakh, which led to the forced displacement of over 

100,000 Armenian Christians from their homeland. In the months before 

the conquest, Pashinyan had formally recognized Nagorno Karabakh (or 

Artsakh) as part of Azerbaijan, although it had never in history been 

ruled by an independent Azerbaijani state.

Eibner's letter to Archbishop Galstanyan follows:

 

Your Eminence, Dear Archbishop Galstanyan,

May the Almighty bless your courageous efforts to amplify the voice 

of the politically marginalized. You do so at a critical moment in 

Armenian history. The Armenian nation faces today an existential 

crisis. The Azeri-Turkic state has already succeeded in ethnically 

cleansing Armenian Christians from Nagorno Karabakh and in occupying 

territory inside the Republic of Armenia. It has done so with 

impunity.

The Aliyev dictatorship now demands more territorial concessions, 

with no end in sight. It is a continuation of the Armenian Genocide 

process. The voice of the multitude you lead must be heard by the 

faction in power in Yerevan.

National unity is now urgently needed. We have therefore read with 

dismay the CivilNet report in which Prime Minister Pashinyan accuses 

the Tavush protesters whom you lead of seeking to "incite war" and 

the "de facto dissolution of Armenian sovereignty and statehood," 

while acting under the influence of "drug lords, criminals and 

foreign special services." No state can survive at the expense of the 

nation upon which it is built.

Over the centuries, the Armenian Apostolic Church has stood in 

solidarity with its suffering people throughout many trials and 

tribulations and continues to do so today. Please be assured that 

many Christians of different traditions throughout the world stand in 

solidarity with you in your non-violent efforts to ensure that the 

views and sentiments of those most threatened by the continuing 

Genocide process are heard by those in power.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the First Christian 

Nation at this time of crisis.

Yours sincerely,

John Eibner

International President

Christian Solidarity International