“If we are a society where there is no violence, who will take our child away from us?” Bishop Mikayel Ajapahyan

Bishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, the head of the Shirak Diocese, also participated in the public discourse on the law on the prevention of domestic violence yesterday. He mentioned that the church had ordered him to attend the meeting and speak. The clergy first sought the participants of the meeting to calm down then touched upon the draft law and domestic violence.

“No one here says that there is no need for the law for preventing domestic violence if there are people who are against this law, so you can say I will propose to formulate this article another way, but I do not think that speaking against the law is acceptable, declared Ajapahyan.

He also touched upon the fears that children would be taken away from their families after the adoption of the law on Prevention of Domestic Violence (before that the Minister of Justice had already denied that view). “Today we have quite a large number of children who do not grow up in the family because the family is unable to provide social, spiritual and moral conditions, and the second is more important for me. Therefore, the word shelter does not frighten. Why are we polarized approaching this question and see a conspiracy? For example, I do not see any conspiracy. Especially a conspiracy that tomorrow our children should be taken away from us. If we are a society where there is no violence, who will take our child away from us? Where there is love and solidarity in the family, may the police officer come and take the child from that family? Are fighting against such imaginary monsters?”

According to a representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church, if we create a moral society where there will be no violence, this law will remain just dead letters. “If I have a normal family, I’m a loving father, a loving husband, a loved and loving boy, law on preventing domestic violence or I do not know which article of the law will not harm me … So do not make imaginary monsters, do not fight against imaginary monsters, be tolerant towards each other, do not see an enemy in each other and do not look for the conspiracy any more”.

Full text in Armenian