Sent from Armenia to birthplace Although the church sent him from Armenia, Pargev was born Gurgen Martirosyan in the Soviet Azerbaijani city of Sumqayit in 1954 to an Armenian family from Chardakhly village. His family moved to Yerevan in 1966. In his younger days, he was drafted into the Soviet army. When the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan began, Archbishop Pargev made a public statement to the Armenian people, calling for strength and unity in the face of the war. "The mission of the church is the same mission, which comes from history; to bring for our people faith, hope and to help them, to gather them, to bring them humanitarian aid, to encourage them, pray with them and help in any way; to be with them." "During this war, we saw thousands of officers and soldiers from Turkey. We saw many international terrorists, extremists; I think it was 4,000 terrorists against us.” He does not see the 2020 conflict as a war around religion as depicted by some media. "It was an ethnic war. The reason this conflict was born was due to a basic human rights problem stemming from great pressure from the authorities in Baku on the Armenian people in Artsakh," said Archbishop Pargev. He notes that Turkey helped Azerbaijan along with Pakistan during the latest war, "and they used many modern new kinds of weapons, rockets, and drones from Russia, Belarus, Israel, and Turkey. "It was the most dangerous war I saw during my 32 years." Pargev considers the area he served for 32 years as his home and shows great sadness in his eyes when he talks of what has happened to it, although he is thankful he can visit Stepanakert, the capital city of Artsakh. New role from January Archbishop Pargev is the author of three books and several articles and essays. He holds a 1st dan-ranked black belt in the martial art of Shotokan karate. In January, Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, appointed Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan as Pontifical envoy-at-large when he resigned as primate of the Artsakh Diocese. The 2020 conflict was between Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories. With the break-up of the former Soviet territory, Nagorno-Karabakh was encompassed within Azerbaijan's international-recognized boundaries. Nevertheless, following a sharp conflict in the early 1990s, during which hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris were displaced, the territory has in practice been self-governing since 1994. This article is second in a series of features covering the various aspects of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and its impact on the local communities. WCC makes urgent call for “lasting peace founded on justice and human rights” for people of Nagorno-Karabakh (WCC press release 13 November 2020) Armenians fleeing war find open doors as churches offer shelter and hope (WCC feature story, 25 February 2021) WCC member churches in Armenia |
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