YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul issued an official statement regarding the statements of Archbiship Aram Ateshyan, who visited Armenia recently.

The Patriarchate said this proves that Ateshyan continues his attempts to distort the truth outside of Turkey as well.

In response to Ateshyan’s statement that Turkey doesn’t recognize the elected locum tenens, the Patriarchate said he is obliged to respect the result of the election and to avoid making the internal church affair into a matter of dispute in a public manner.

“According to the decision passed in the assembly, which he personally attended, he is bound to step down as General Vicar. On the contrary, he refused to resign, a step which has put us in a shameful situation. His conduct forces the Church Assembly, which had installed him in this post, to dismiss him, something which is an extremely upsetting fact. In addition, the state hasn’t issued any statement whereby it doesn’t recognize the elected locum tenens”, the statement said.

 “Our desire is that the Archbishop stops seeking contradictions and avoids disputes”, the statement says.