Interior Ministry To Recommend Deposition of Armenian Patriarch

LRAPER Church Bulletin
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
Contact: Deacon V. Seropyan
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
E-mail: patriarchate@post.com
or haybad@superonline.com

LRAPER Church Bulletin, 23 May 2004 (Istanbul) — In a news article
prepared by the Ankara bureau of the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper and
dated 20 May, it is claimed that the Turkish Interior Ministry seeks
legal authority to recommend the deposition of the Armenian Patriarch
of Turkey.

The Cumhuriyet Bureau reported that the Interior Ministry objected to
a working paper prepared by the Foreign Ministry about the election
and duties of the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey.

The Cumhuriyet report continues, “The Interior Ministry emphasized that
the Patriarchate is “responsible only for providing religious services”
to the minority citizens, “has no political or administrative duties”
and that such a privilege would exceed what the International Treaty
of Lausanne prescribes.

“The Interior Ministry thus refuted a draft directorium prepared by
the Foreign Ministry which concerns the Patriarchal See that provides
the religious needs of the Armenians of Turkey whose minority status
is recognized by the Treaty of Lausanne.

“Experts at the Interior Ministry, who have evaluated the Foreign
Ministry working papers, indicated that there is no mention of the
Patriarchal See in the Treaty of Lausanne, and to this day, no laws,
constitutions or other binding legal arrangements of the sort have
been formulated.”

“The Interior Ministry observed that a 1961 ‘Armenian Patriarchate
Election Directorium’ had been implemented in previous elections
and that, in this case also, a similar decision by the Cabinet of
Ministers would be in order. “