Mikael Surbazan on Proposals to Tax the Church by the Prosperous Armenia Party

During a conversation with journalists, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, expressed his views on the police's violent actions, stating, "They have acted very ugly, they are behaving ugly, God willing, they will not behave this way anymore." He believes that the police are acting under direct orders: "Do you think they act spontaneously? Of course, it is an order. How could it not be an order?"

In response to discussions regarding taxing the church, raised by members of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Surbazan noted, "It evokes a sneer. I am astonished by their pitifulness, their pettiness. An entire party is embodying the character of a cheap blackmailer. They are nothing but cheap extortionists. If they think that this will ‘intimidate’ the church, then they do not know the church and are showing that they are not members of that church. Because a member of the church cannot think about taxing his mother. It is the same as if children in a family thought that their mother is not paying taxes and they should tax her. Will that happen?"