Archbishop Sepuh Sarkisian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church's Diocese of Tehran, has described the Armenian authorities' efforts to remove Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II as dangerous and counterproductive.

According to him, the Armenian government is taking the wrong approach in its relations with the Church.

"The Armenian Apostolic Church has a history spanning 1,700 years, and such a policy should not be pursued toward it. The Church is an independent institution. We expect the Armenian authorities to begin a dialogue with the Church. Their conduct is having a negative impact on the Armenian diaspora. To this day, we have not seen any gesture of goodwill from Armenia's leadership," the archbishop said, according to Sputnik Armenia.

Sarkisian also criticized the government's position on Nagorno-Karabakh. He said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is mistaken when he states that Nagorno-Karabakh is not Armenian land. The archbishop also commented on Armenian-Iranian relations, describing them as excellent.

"I do not believe there is any country in the world closer to Armenia than Iran. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we have maintained close relations since time immemorial. At times we have also been enemies, of course, but we have always found common ground and overcome our disagreements," he added.

On January 4, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and 10 bishops calling for the removal of the Catholicos announced the launch of a process to "reform" the Armenian Apostolic Church. Against this backdrop, the heads of three dioceses — Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, Bishop Mikael Ajapahyan and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan — as well as Mother See Chancellor Arshak Khachatryan, were previously arrested on various charges.

On February 14, Armenia's Prosecutor's Office initiated criminal proceedings against Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and barred him from leaving the country. The issue of removing the Catholicos was included in the Civil Contract party's election platform.