Man imprisoned for defrauding top Armenian cleric

A court sentenced a man to four years in prison on Thursday on charges of defrauding Aram Ateşyan, acting patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Turkey. Kemal Tayfun Nargin, who was released pending trial in an earlier hearing, was accused of receiving TL 6,000 ($2,050) from Ateşyan. According to a court indictment, Nargin visited Ateşyan a few days after the cleric met Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu over the return of a property seized in the past by the state from the community. He introduced himself as a state official to Ateşyan, told him the state will return the property and asked for "fees for bureaucratic procedures" from Ateşyan. The victim had claimed he gave the money after Nargin asked him for "a gift."