Istanbul Armenian Pariarchal election issue complicated with provocations, says Agos editor

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The discussion in the Istanbul’s Governor’s Office on the issue of Istanbul’s Armenian Patriarch election didn’t give any result, and moreover the issue got a lot more complicated.

Bagrat Estukyan, editor-in-chief of the Armenian language department of Istanbul’s Agos newspaper, told ARMENPRESS that a delegation visited the Governor’s Office on October 24 to discuss the election matter, where they met with the Governor and other officials.

“According to our information, the Governor said that he doesn’t recognize the fact of Archbishop Garegin Bekchian being elected as patriarchal locum tenens. Archbishop Aram Ateshyan and Bishop Sahak Mashalyan were suggested to start this process from the beginning. It was suggested that one of them serves as locum tenens, while the other serves as vicar, but this doesn’t comply with our rules and regulations and is unacceptable by the spiritual community”, Estukyan said.

Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan was not present at the meeting, he is in currently in Germany. According to Estukyan, the date of the meeting in the Governor’s Office was chosen not by coincidence, because despite Bekchian’s previous requests, the meeting was granted just after he departed to Germany.

Archbishop Bekchyan is expected to return to Istanbul on October 30.