Ana sayfa
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Leader of Turkish Armenian community writes Erdogan about concerns
The leader of the Armenian Orthodox community in Turkey, Patriarch Mesrob
II, has written a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressing
discomfort with what he called the "indexing of the Armenian communities’
concerns on those of the Greek Orthodox community." Mesrob II’s letter comes
following a week in which the subject of "reciprocity" between Turkey and
Greece on the subject of the internal treatment of eachothers’ ethnic
minorities has been a focus of parliamentary debate.
In his letter to Erdogan, Mesrob II expressed the following: "The Armenian
community is seriously concerned that its matters are being indexed on those
of the Greek Orthodox community…..We think that we are being victimized on
account of struggles between Turkey and Greece."
Mesrob II also touched on the question of education for children of Armenian
citizenship living in Turkey, noting that due to tolerance displayed by the
leaders of the Turkish Republic, there are currently 30 to 40 thousand
Armenian citizens living here. The religious leader pushed Erdogan to allow
the children of Armenian citizens to be allowed to study in Armenian schools
under the provision of the National Education Ministry, which are currently
only for citizens of the Turkish Republic.