Tweet
TURKISH ARMENIAN COMMUNITY FACING UNCERTAINTY WITH RESIGNATIONS
Hurriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=armenian-patriarchate8217s-agonies-seem-interminable-2010-11-29
Nov 29 2010
Turkey
The administration of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey has been
thrown into uncertainty following a decision by the institution's
financial board to resign en masse due to differences of opinion with
the acting patriarch.
"It has never been like this in the whole history of the patriarchate,"
Melkon Karaköse, a key figure in the community and most important
person on the financial board, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic
Review last week. "We [Turkish Armenians] are at the risk of losing our
integrity and unity as a society and we are passing through extremely
dark times."
The board chose to resign following problems with Archbishop Aram
AteÅ~_yan, who was made acting patriarch by the Interior Ministry after
the Armenian community failed to select a new patriarch after current
Patriarch Mesrop II was diagnosed with frontal dementia two years ago,
leaving him unable to fulfill his duties. Under the Armenian Aposolic
Church's cannon law, a new patriarch cannot be selected until the
previous one has died.
Although the financial board was previously necessary to facilitate
the community's commercial matters, the power now solely rests in
the acting patriarch's hands.
"The financial board fell into bad terms with Archbishop AteÅ~_yan and
decided to resign. I told them that if they quit, I would quit as well
because it was impossible for me to take such great responsibility
on my shoulders," Karaköse said.
"AteÅ~_yan is an honest man, but he needs to take measures today in
order to prevent being taken to account tomorrow, or else he will
suffer greatly," Karaköse said, adding that the community should
have been allowed to elect a new patriarch, rather than trying to
cope with the substitute system.
The resignation of the financial board, which has helped handle
the Armenian community's commercial matters for the past 550 years,
has left the community in a difficult position as financial dealings
have required the signature of one cleric and one layperson to become
valid as part of a tradition dating back to Ottoman times.
"When I did not sign a document, all the financial conducts of the
patriarchate used to come to a hiatus," said Karaköse, who has been
the layperson responsible for signing off on the documents for many
years. "I sued to sign all the documents on behalf of the community,
and the reason why a civil signature is required together with that
of the clergy is to overcome possible acts of bribery."
Karaköse has served in the patriarchate's top positions for the past
30 years and has been considered the right-hand man of the last three
patriarchs, including Mesrop II.
From: A. Papazian
Hurriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=armenian-patriarchate8217s-agonies-seem-interminable-2010-11-29
Nov 29 2010
Turkey
The administration of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey has been
thrown into uncertainty following a decision by the institution's
financial board to resign en masse due to differences of opinion with
the acting patriarch.
"It has never been like this in the whole history of the patriarchate,"
Melkon Karaköse, a key figure in the community and most important
person on the financial board, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic
Review last week. "We [Turkish Armenians] are at the risk of losing our
integrity and unity as a society and we are passing through extremely
dark times."
The board chose to resign following problems with Archbishop Aram
AteÅ~_yan, who was made acting patriarch by the Interior Ministry after
the Armenian community failed to select a new patriarch after current
Patriarch Mesrop II was diagnosed with frontal dementia two years ago,
leaving him unable to fulfill his duties. Under the Armenian Aposolic
Church's cannon law, a new patriarch cannot be selected until the
previous one has died.
Although the financial board was previously necessary to facilitate
the community's commercial matters, the power now solely rests in
the acting patriarch's hands.
"The financial board fell into bad terms with Archbishop AteÅ~_yan and
decided to resign. I told them that if they quit, I would quit as well
because it was impossible for me to take such great responsibility
on my shoulders," Karaköse said.
"AteÅ~_yan is an honest man, but he needs to take measures today in
order to prevent being taken to account tomorrow, or else he will
suffer greatly," Karaköse said, adding that the community should
have been allowed to elect a new patriarch, rather than trying to
cope with the substitute system.
The resignation of the financial board, which has helped handle
the Armenian community's commercial matters for the past 550 years,
has left the community in a difficult position as financial dealings
have required the signature of one cleric and one layperson to become
valid as part of a tradition dating back to Ottoman times.
"When I did not sign a document, all the financial conducts of the
patriarchate used to come to a hiatus," said Karaköse, who has been
the layperson responsible for signing off on the documents for many
years. "I sued to sign all the documents on behalf of the community,
and the reason why a civil signature is required together with that
of the clergy is to overcome possible acts of bribery."
Karaköse has served in the patriarchate's top positions for the past
30 years and has been considered the right-hand man of the last three
patriarchs, including Mesrop II.
From: A. Papazian