ASIA/TURKEY - Armenian Archbishop Athesyan praises the government's policy towards religious minorities

Istanbul (Agenzia Fides) - Today's Turkey "is not what it used to be", because since the Party of Justice and Development (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power, things have changed, and there is a "strong and eager government that guarantees the rights of minorities". This is what Apostolic Armenian Archbishop Aram Athesyan, already "locum tenens" of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinpolis said, making reference to the next Eucharistic celebration (the first after three years) which will be held soon in the Armenian medieval church of the Holy Cross, near Akdamar island, in Lake Van (see photo). In some statements re-launched by the Turkish media, the Archbishop insisted that before the AKP's rise to power "certain things in Turkey were taboo", and instead "we are now restoring our sanctuaries and some of our communities are also receiving authorizations to build new churches", while many restrictions have already disappeared and we have begun to positively perceive our condition in this Country".
At the end of last March, as reported by Agenzia Fides (see Fides 4/4/2018),
anonymous posters were posted in some districts of Istanbul, that attacked Archbishop Aram Athesyan, already "locum tenens" of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Constantinople, who in August had been replaced in that role by Archbishop Karekin Bekdjian, and later played a key role in the internal events of the Patriarchate, after the Turkish authorities had effectively eliminated the entire electoral process launched in 2016 to choose the successor of Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan. In July 2008, it was announced that Mesrob Mutafyan was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 7/9/2018)

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