Following the resignation of acting Patriarch Aram Ateşyan, Turkey's Armenian community is counting down to a long-awaited election to install a new religious leader.
Ateşyan's post has not been without controversy with prominent community members criticizing the existence of the post for nine years, after Patriarch Mesrob II went into a coma nine years ago due to illness. Repeated calls for elections were finally answered after a recent appointment of an official to oversee the election period.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Bedros Şirinoğlu, an influential figure in the community who presides over the Union of Foundations of Turkish Armenians, said they have been awaiting elections for a long time and even took the matter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with whom they recently met. "The president's call for speeding up the process was answered and Istanbul's governorate approved the election of Degabah (a representative of the community overseeing the election process)," he said.
Community members agreed to hold elections last year and seek permission from the local authorities (a red tape process for the elections), but no timetable was set, to the chagrin of opponents of the post of acting patriarch instead of a permanent one.
Şirinoğlu said Karekin Bekçiyan, who was elected to the post of Degabah, will arrive in Istanbul 10 days later from Germany, where he serves in the Armenian church. "Then, we will form a council to start the process and will determine a date for elections," he said. He noted that unlike other communities, Armenians in Turkey elect their own patriarch. Ateşyan will likely run for the post of patriarch, as well as Bekçiyan.
Another contender is Sahak Maşalyan, who was serving as head of Spiritual Council of the church before his resignation in February. Maşalyan accused Ateşyan of delaying the elections that would be held if the council and local authorities approve. Maşalyan says Ateşyan resisted the election of a new patriarch and "acted alone" when he announced he would not apply to the authorities for permission for a new election in January. Maşalyan said in a letter published by the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos that the election process could have been "accelerated" by cutting red tape but Ateşyan had prevented it. "Ateşyan used his position as acting patriarch to abuse his duty and caused the seat of the patriarch to be left empty for nine years, for the first time in the history of the Armenian church," he said.
Under the election process, the community will elect delegates who will pick a candidate for the post in the later stages.
Like other non-Muslim communities whose population has dwindled over the years due to a lack of rights and oppressive state policies, the Armenian community have seen a reinstatement of their rights such as the return of properties once seized by the state. However, the election of a new patriarch remained a thorn in the side of the community. Armenian groups even staged a rare protest for the elections to protest the "made-up title of acting patriarch" and electing a new religious leader.
The Armenian patriarchate was established in Istanbul after the city's conquest by the Ottoman Empire, and oversees Armenian churches throughout the country.