Claim that Karekin II has never visited the Armenian Diocese of Germany is untrue: FIP

Disgraced priest Khoren Hovhannisyan, known by his baptismal name as Nshan Hovhannisyan, made several controversial claims regarding Catholicos Karekin II on the Public TV channel on June 27. Hovhannisyan specifically stated that when the Catholicos sought to visit Germany in 2005 to meet then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, she rejected the meeting request due to the Catholicos's alleged ties as an agent.

However, the Fact-Checking Platform has revealed that Hovhannisyan's claim that Karekin II has never visited the Armenian Diocese of Germany during his tenure as Catholicos is not true. On October 17, 2017, the Catholicos indeed traveled to Berlin for a five-day visit to participate in official events commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation alongside the heads of Eastern Orthodox Churches. During his visit, he met with both German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the Armenian community in Berlin.

The FIP did not find any publication in open sources confirming Hovhannisyan's claims that the former Chancellor refused to host the Catholicos for any reason, including the accusation of being a Soviet agent. Conversely, Merkel met with the Catholicos at the Mother See in August 2018 during an official visit to Armenia. For more details, refer to the original source website.