On 15 February 2018 Forum 18
reported that Turkey has once again blocked the election of a new Patriarch for the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) - despite President Erdogan promising to solve the issue. This has caused increasing unrest in the Armenian community. According to the Turkish authorities, the requirements for holding the election have not been met. Forum 18"s report highlights how the AAC is struggling to make important decisions because of the delay, causing internal conflict within the church.
Michael Bosch, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, explains: "The main problem is that the 1863 agreement between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the State stipulates that a new Patriarch can only be elected after the previous Patriarch has died. Since 2008, the incumbent Patriarch has been incapable of performing his duties, but he is still alive. Until now, Turkey has only allowed a "˜Patriarchal Vicar-General" to be chosen, a function that does not exist within the church. State permission is
de jure not legally required for all religious communities officially recognized under the Lausanne treaty. But
de facto the Greek-Orthodox, the Armenian Apostolic and the Jewish communities all need the authorization of the Turkish state for electing new leadership. If they do not have this authorization, then the Turkish government
is unlikely to recognize their new leader and allow him to act as representative of their community (see Forum 18, 11 August 2010)."
Michael Bosch adds: "Under Turkish law, both recognized and non-recognized religious communities do not have legal status. This makes it impossible to formally and legally create an internal election process. A solution would be for the Turkish state to provide a legal framework for religious communities to be able to manage their internal affairs independently. Even if the Turkish state is not deliberately hindering the religious communities, the current legal deficiency is a clear breech of freedom of belief."
