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ANKARA: Armenian patriarch to stay despite his illness

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  • ANKARA: Armenian patriarch to stay despite his illness

    Hürriyet, Turkey
    Jan 5 2009



    Armenian patriarch to stay despite his illness


    ISTANBUL - The Armenian Patriarchy is not an office that can function
    without an acting patriarch, said the editor-in-chief of Armenian
    daily Jamanak Ara Koçunyan, criticizing the decision of the
    Spiritual Council not to replace Patriarch Mesrob II who is said to be
    suffering from frontal lobe dementia.

    As concern grows over the patriarchy without a patriarch, senior
    members of the community say any comments about the health of the
    patriarch attracts serious criticism from the conservative community
    and the patriarchy.

    Speaking to Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review,
    Koçunyan, whose newspaper first broke the story about the
    deteriorating health of the patriarch, said: "It is a very sensitive
    subject. It can be perceived as disrespectful to the office of the
    patriarch.

    Koçunyan said the Spiritual Assembly met mid last year due to
    increasing concern over the patriarch and asked for the community to
    wait until the new year for a decision.

    In a statement released by the Spiritual Synod last week, it was
    reported that members recognized Patriarch Mesrob II as the spiritual
    leader of the Armenian community in Turkey and that the patriarch was
    capable of handling all his responsibilities. "Members of the
    Spiritual Council do not believe it is necessary to cloud the
    community's agenda with an issue such as the election of the patriarch
    and advise members of the community to wait in faith and patience," it
    said.

    Koçunyan said the Spiritual Council did not have the right to
    issue such a declaration and that the Armenian Church traditionally
    did not have such an executive mechanism. "The Spiritual Council does
    not elect the patriarch. It is trying to force a fait accompli on the
    community."

    Koçunyan said, "I would not like to judge the policies of an
    ill patriarch, but he did not display the democratic sensitivities of
    his predecessor," stating that both his newspaper and the Agos weekly
    faced embargoes and other prohibitions from the patriarchate in the
    past.
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