CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS ARRIVES IN ISTANBUL
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 21 2006
ISTANBUL, JUNE 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Karekin II Catholicos
of All Armenians arrived in Istanbul on late June 20. Radio Liberty
informs about it, mentioning that this Catholicos visit is the 12th
one in number during the whole history.
During the last 50 years heads of the Armenian church visited Turkey
only three times. Vazgen I Catholicos paid an official visit to Turkey
in 1961. He met in Ankara with the authorities of Turkey and laid a
wreath to the grave of Ataturk.
Karekin I Catholicos visited Turkey the next time, in 1996. That visit
was not official: the Armenian community of Turkey received Karekin I.
Ara Gochunian, the editor-in-chief of the "Zhamanak" (time) daily being
published in Istanbul informed that the present visit of Karekin II
is not official, either, but, unlike the previous Catholicos visit,
Karekin II met with t he Istanbul Governor.
The Catholicos of All Armenians will visit the Armenian representation
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization as well. During the
first two days of the visit, His Holiness Patriarch will be received
by the Greek Patriarchate.
38 Armenian churches, 15 colleges function in Istanbul today where
more than 3500 Armenian children study. Two dailies and one monthly
are published.
There are other adjacent publications as well.
Though there is no official statistics about the concrete Armenian
inhabitation’s number, according to calculation of the Armenian church
and numerous Turk officials, 70-80 thousand citizens of Turkey of
Armenian origin live in the country.
Dozens of thousands of Armenians emigrated Turkey from Armenia, after
Armenia’s becoming independent. Foreign Minister of Turkey Abdullah
Gul stated in one of his recent speeches that there are about 40
thousand Armenians in Turkey. But, in the opinion of representatives
of the Armenian community, those numbers are exaggerated.
His Holiness will stay in Turkey for a week.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
