«Do Not Make My Father's House a Place of Trade»: Alen Simonian

The President of the National Assembly, Alen Simonian, described the video prepared by the opposition regarding the lies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a manipulation.

“To take, cut from context, and compare speeches from different times with today is absurd; this is a manipulation aimed at influencing the masses. However, reality is changing extraordinarily quickly, we find ourselves in a different reality every hour, and trying to compare statements from 5-6-7 years ago with today is absurd,” Simonian said in a conversation with reporters.

According to him, in 2016, there was an unelected government in Armenia. He assured that their attitude towards the homeland has never changed.

Alen Simonian deemed it absurd that members of the ruling party would accept the reconciliation process initiated by Bishop Bagrat and take steps toward it. “This is absurd; it is utterly unacceptable for me that the church and the clergy engage in politics. The Bible also states, ‘Do not make my father's house a place of trade.’ Politics is trading. Do you think we are negotiating with our international partners without engaging in political trade? The church, having left its duties, is involved in trade. It is unacceptable for me that the church has turned the services into political rallies, organizing rallies under the guise of services,” said the Speaker of the Assembly.

Simonian made a comparison: “On March 1, Robert Kocharyan was shooting people; people went to see the Catholicos, and he did nothing, didn't come out.”