Harut Sassounian
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
A major controversy has been brewing in Istanbul for several years among members of the Armenian community over plans to elect a new Armenian Patriarch.
The controversy has long historic roots and more recent complications which started with the terminal illness of Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan who is unable to carry out his duties because of dementia.
When some members of the Istanbul Armenian community tried to elect a new Patriarch to replace the incapacitated Mesrob Patriarch, the Turkish government officially announced that as long as the existing Patriarch is alive, no new Patriarch can be elected. Even the request to elect a Coadjutor Patriarch was rejected by the Governor of Istanbul.
The Turkish government used the excuse that the Armenian community’s constitution of 1863 contained no such office as Coadjutor Patriarch. The problem was that the Turkish government had declared the constitution to be invalid several decades earlier. If the government was basing its decision on a defunct constitution, it meant that it was recognizing its validity. If the constitution is valid, then the community has the right to elect delegates who in turn could elect a new Patriarch. Regrettably, the Armenian community did not think of bringing this contradiction to the attention of the Turkish government!
We remember that Mesrob Patriarch also faced opposition from the Turkish government prior to his election in 1998. Eventually, he went to Ankara and “made a dealâ€
