A petition to change.org is launched with the demand for the  resignation of Archbishop Aram Ateshyan

ArmInfo. A petition has been launched on change.org with the demand that Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, Patriarch of Constantinople Patriarchate of the Armenian Catholic  Church, should resign.

The petition has already been signed by hundreds of representatives  of the Armenian community of Turkey.  The initiators of the petition  accuse Ateshyan of sowing discord between the community and the  church, disrespecting the history of the community, as well as  selling off church property. The initiators of the petition demand  not only the removal of Ateshyan, but also the deprivation of his  dignity.

To recall, on October 26, 2016, the Patriarchate of Constantinople of  the AAC announced its decision to recognize the current patriarch  Mesrop Mutafyan as incapable. Patriarch Mutafyan has been in a coma  since 2008 and, in fact, does not act like a patriarch. These powers  are exercised in his place by Archbishop Aram Atashyan, who was  elected not by the community, but by the state. That is, it implies  the election of a new patriarch.

To recall, on March 15, 2017, elections of the locum tenens of the  Constantinople Diocese of the AAC were held. The decision of this was  made by the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, after in February  of the same year the Istanbul Armenians addressed with an open letter  to the Catholicos asking to intervene in the activities of Ateshyan.  The letter emphasized that the Patriarchate, designed to solve the  problems of the community, on the contrary creates them. They also  called on the Catholicos to ensure the resignation of Ateshyan, to  promote the organization of open, transparent and impartial elections  to the Patriarch of Constantinople, the diocese of the ACC. After the  election of the locum tenens within ten days, that is, before March  25, elections for the Initiative structure were to be organized and  held, which in turn, in six months, was supposed to organize the  election of the patriarch. However, after the election of the locum  tenens of the Diocese of Constantinople by 23 votes out of 34,  Archbishop Bekchyan won a victory, Aram Ateshyan refused to leave his  post. Moreover, Ateshyan, the incumbent governor, submitted a letter  to the Istanbul mayor's office, stating that the past locator  elections were not legal and that he was the only one who legally  holds this position. At the same time, Ateshian stressed that he does  not intend to leave his post. After these actions of Ateshyan,  Garegin Bekchyan made a statement in which he stressed that Ateshyan  is obliged to respect the agreements reached during the meeting with  Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin the second to refuse his post  after the election of the locum tenens and leave his post.

On June 28, 2017, Archbishop Aram Ateshyan was nevertheless removed  from his post as viceroy of the Constantinople Patriarchate of the  Armenian Apostolic Church. And in May 2017, the Armenian community of  Istanbul began collecting signatures against Archbishop Ateshyan,  demanding to deprive him of his dignity and excommunicate him. The  negative attitude of the Armenian community to the archbishop is  explained by the fact that on June 7, 2016, the archbishop sent a  letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in connection with  the resolution on the Armenian Genocide adopted by the German  parliament on June 2, in particular: "We, as the Armenian community  of Turkey, express our regret about the decision of the Bundestag. "  After this incident in the Armenian parliament, they stated that it  was necessary to secure the resignation and even deprivation of the  dignity of the archbishop by all means, calling his letter "an  unprecedented example of betrayal and shame in the history of the  Armenian people."

However, this situation was not resolved, and already on February 9,  2018, the spiritual council of the Constantinople Patriarchate of the  AAC during the emergency meeting decided to keep Aram Ateshyan the  deputy of the patriarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The  Patriarchate called for a return to the position before the October  26, 2016 religious meeting.