ArmInfo. The deputy of the Mejlis of Turkey from the Kurdish Democratic Party of the peoples Karo Paylan stated that the interference of the authorities in the process of appointing the head of the Constantinople Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church is unacceptable. This is reported by Ermenihaber.am. On his Twitter page, he wrote: "In order to appoint our protege in the Diocese of Constantinople, the authorities went on intrigues that deserve study, but we do not accept it, we want to elect a new patriarch."
After an extraordinary meeting in the province of Istanbul the other day with the participation of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Turkey Suleiman Soylu, members of the initiative group engaged in the election of the head of the Constantinople Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the leaders of the Armenian communities, the spiritual council of the Constantinople Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church during the emergency meeting on February 9 decided to retain the priest of the patriarch of the diocese for Aram Ateshyan. According to the widespread statement, the Patriarchate calls to return to the position before the religious assembly on October 26, 2016, when Garegin Bekchyan was offered to the post of the locum tenens. After this decision, Bechchyan left Constantinople and refused further participation in the elections.
As a result of a protracted illness of the patriarch of the Constantinople Diocese Mesrop Mutafyan, Aram Atashyan was appointed as locum tenens. However, his recent actions and statements were regarded by the Armenian community of Turkey as treacherous, and as a result of pressure Ateshyan was forced to resign, and his position was temporarily occupied by Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan.