Armenian PM offers to show penis to church head in ongoing squabble
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has offered to show off his penis to the head of the country's Orthodox Church to settle an argument that he is uncircumcised.
Pashinyan made the bizarre proposal in response to Father Zareh Ashuryan, the spokesperson for the Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church Karekin II, who implied that the head of government was not a Christian.
"I believe that our Apostolic Holy Church must immediately cleanse itself of those false 'believers' who are traitors to the nation, have dishonoured the memory of their ancestors, broken the vow of baptism and replaced the seal of the Holy Cross with the sign of circumcision," Father Ashuryan said.
Pashinyan responded in a post on Facebook, saying he was ready to accept the challenge and prove he had been circumcised, a religious practice common among Christians in the country.
"Let him finally answer the question: did he break the covenant of partisanship or not? Does he have a child or not?" Pashinyan asked in his post, repeating a claim he had made in June in which he accused Karekin II of breaking his vow of celibacy and fathering a child.
The church released a statement at the time accusing Pashinyan of undermining Armenia's "spiritual unity" but did not address the claim about the child.
Claims of a coup plot
This isn't the first time this week that Pashinyan and the Orthodox Church have gone head to head.
On Wednesday, authorities arrested a prominent cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, along with 13 others, charging them with orchestrating an alleged plot to overthrow the government.
Armenia's Investigative Committee said in a statement it had filed criminal charges against the group, which they claim had "acquired the means and tools necessary to commit a terrorist attack and seize power."
Galastanyan's lawyer described the charges as "fiction".
In total, 14 individuals were arrested in connection with the alleged coup plot, but only Galastanyan was named publicly.
The Investigative Committee said it carried out over 90 searches and recovered evidence that included firearms and ammunition.
In a post on Telegram, Pashinyan wrote that authorities had thwarted a "large and sinister plan by the 'criminal-oligarchic clergy'" aimed at taking control of Armenia.
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