I have not had any disagreements with His Holiness the Patriarch – Robert Kocharyan

The second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, said today during a meeting with reporters that he had no disagreements with His Holiness the Patriarch during his presidency.

“During my presidency, we met with His Holiness regularly. It wasn’t that there was never a thought of replacing His Holiness or getting involved in other matters, but if someone had told me that a moment would come and we would have this situation, I would have said the person asking the question was mentally ill.

Under my leadership, the largest scale of church construction in Armenia took place, thanks to His Holiness. He was able to raise financial resources and build churches. There was never a discussion that could create an atmosphere of mutual distrust. On the contrary, I always asked, ‘What is needed? How can we help?’ For a small country, national identity is the cement that holds statehood together. If you want that statehood to collapse, you weaken that identity. That has always been my approach, and with this perspective, no other type of relationship could form with the church. There were no disagreements,” Kocharyan concluded.