Turkey: Why can't Armenians elect a Patriarch?

 Mine Yildirim

The state has, again, blocked the process for the election of a new Patriarch for Turkey's Armenian Apostolic community. The Istanbul Governorship intervened again in early February as the community appeared to be on the point of initiating the long-delayed election. In light of the interference, the Armenian Patriarchate's Clerical Council felt compelled to back down, annul its 2017 election of a Locum Tenens (temporary leader) and acknowledge the authority of the Patriarchal Vicar-General, Archbishop Aram Ateshian.
The Istanbul Governorship – a state institution under the Interior Ministry responsible for state administration in Istanbul province, where the Armenian Patriarchate is based – argued that the Armenian community cannot elect a new leader as the previous Patriarch – unable to fulfil his functions since 2008 because of illness – is still living (see below).

Patriarch election saga drags on for Turkey's Armenians

Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Translated by Sibel Utku Bila

 

When Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan, the spiritual leader of Turkey’s Armenians, fell ill in 2008, few would have thought that the debate on how to elect a new patriarch would drag on for years. Yet, ever since then, heated debates and divisions have haunted the Armenian community.

Summary Turkey’s Armenian community has remained without an active patriarch for years as Ankara uses a legal vacuum to interfere in its religious affairs.