Armenian Patriarch seeks equal citizenship rights in letter to Turkish leaders

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
19 Oct 06

Istanbul, 19 October: Mesrob II, the Patriarch of the Armenians
in Turkey, has argued that the foundations bill is not compatible
with the principle of constitutional equality and legal techniques,
and expressed thought that it will not solve their problems if it is
legalized in its current shape.

Mesrob II sent letters to Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc,
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

In the letters, the Armenian Patriarch said that he could not have the
opportunity to express his views to the government before the bill was
passed from the concerned commission and submitted to the parliament.

"We have no other demand than equal citizenship. We are sorry because
we were considered as foreigners as our rights were evaluated in
accordance with the law of reciprocity, and we were not asked to
express our views. We are the citizens of this country, and therefore
we think that it is natural for us to ask the parliament to deal with
and solve our problems," he added.