Armenian News... A Topalian...8 editorials
The Life Scientific
Jim Al-Khalili talks to Ken Gabriel, who head up a large non-profit company that cut its teeth building the guidance systems for the Apollo space missions and is now involved in developing driverless cars and drug production systems for personalised medicine. He explains why aiming for seemingly impossible goals is a "good idea”.
Ken recalls that his grandfather was a survivor of the Armenian Holocaust who had to survive as a 16 year old in the woods for a year. His grandfather taught him survival skills such as catching birds with a piece of string.
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The Haptic Baton
This revolutionary conducting baton allows visually impaired musicians to feel the beat, developed by Nouritsa Matossian's son and father
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Panorama, Armenia
March 11 2019
Funeral service for Patriarch Mesrob II to be held on March 17
The funeral service for Archbishop Mesrob II Mutafyan, the 84th Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, will be held on Sunday, March 17, at Istanbul’s St. Virgin Mary Church.
He will be buried at the Armenian cemetery in the Sisli district of the Turkish capital, like all the previous Armenian patriarchs, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople said on Facebook.
Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan passed away Friday at Intanbul’s Holy Savior Armenian Hospital after a long illness. He was 63.
He began suffering from dementia in 2008 and has been in a vegetative state since then. Mesrob II was elected Patriarch in 1998, succeeding Karekin II. He had to withdraw from his duties due to his illness in 2008 and Archbishop Aram Atesyan was appointed to serve as Patriarchal Vicar for the Armenian community of Istanbul.
A new patriarch could not be elected as Turkish laws prohibit any elections while a standing patriarch is alive.
Newsweek Magazine
March 11 2019
Turkey's Erdogan Sends Tweet in Armenian for First Time, but Is It About Healing Wounds or Increasing Power?
By Cristina Maza
A little more than 100 years after the Ottoman Turks killed about 1.5 million of the empire’s Armenian citizens, Turkey’s president tweeted in Armenian.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surprised Twitter users with a message in the language of Turkey’s small neighbor Armenia, with whom Ankara has had a tense relationship since World War I.
"I was deeply saddened by the death of the Armenian patriarch of Turkey, the honorable Mesrob Mutafyan. I offer my condolences to his family, relatives and our Armenian citizens," Erdogan tweeted on Friday in Armenian, in a message directed at the estimated 60,000 Armenians living in Turkey today.
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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
✔ @RT_Erdogan
Խոր վշտով տեղեկացայ Թուրքիոյ հայոց պատրիարք Յարգելի Մեսրոպ Մութաֆեանի մահը։ Այս կապակցութեամբ կը ցաւակցիմ իր ընտնիքին, հարազատներուն եւ մեր հայ քաղաքացիներուն։
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The tweet was written following the death of the Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan, who died on Friday after having early onset dementia for more than a decade. His death will pave the way for the election of a replacement, something Turkey’s small but influential Armenian population has been requesting for years.
Erdogan’s message was the first in Armenian by a Turkish head of state on a major platform like Twitter. That fact, coupled with recent overtures by the new Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who suggested that diplomatic relations could potentially be re-established between the two countries, raised questions about whether the frosty relationship was starting to thaw. Erdogan has only once before released a message in Armenian, and never to his 13.5 million Twitter followers.
“It is in my memory the first time that a Turkish head of state has expressed condolences in Armenian and in such a visible and public way. I am not sure if he has done anything similar in other minority languages, I would be surprised if he has, so this is indeed quite interesting,” Artyom Tonoyan, a research associate at University of Minnesota, told Newsweek.
But some experts argued that, far from a move toward reconciliation or inclusivity, Erdogan’s message was a political power play. With a single tweet, Turkey’s president was aiming to influence internal factors in his country, not alter the relationship between Ankara and Yerevan, analysts said.
“Erdogan is both a populist and simultaneously wants extreme control," Vicken Cheterian, author of the book Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks, and a Century of Genocide, told Newsweek. "In the last years, he tried to please the Armenian community in Turkey, [while] at the same time trying to control the major Armenian institution in Turkey, the Armenian Patriarchate."
“While Patriarch Mesorb was ill, he did not permit elections to select a new head of the church, thus keeping at its head someone who was suitable to Ankara. The tweet comes in this context,” Cheterian continued.
Bedross Der Mattossian, author of the book Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire, agreed that the tweet was aimed at influencing the election for a new patriarch. He noted that Turkey’s Armenian community was split between those who supported the government’s role in choosing a new patriarch and those who didn't.
“On February 21, a group of 72 Armenian writers, journalists and artists released a statement in which they said they desire social harmony, and that harmony would only emerge when a legal election of a patriarch happened in a fair manner,” Der Mattossian, told Newsweek.
“Armenians are an important minority in Turkey. It has to do with the genocide, it has to do with Turkish denial, it has to do with criticism of the Turkish government and the constant active policy of denial that it pursues against the Armenians,” he continued. “So these are politics, not a huge gesture… It’s politics because [Erdogan] wants to be shown as a tolerant leader who cares about his own flock.”
Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkey could not accept the label of genocide, but he had offered condolences for the events of World War I. “It is Turkey’s conscientious and ethical responsibility to share the historical pain of our Armenian citizens,” Erdogan said in a statement last year.
Some argued that Erdogan needed Turkey’s Armenian population to bolster his image.
“The votes from the most influential Christian community of the country could be a way to diversify the political image of the ruling regime, both locally and internationally,” Varuzhan Geghamyan, a scholar focusing on Turkey, told Newsweek. “Another symbolic importance lies in Erdogan’s tendency to be compared to Ottoman sultans, who were rulers not only for Muslim, but also Christian and other subjects of the empire.”
“The tweet in Armenian language was innovative, but the appeal in itself was not unprecedented or unique,” Geghamyan added. “The Ottoman-now-Turkish state tradition requires the ruler to extend his condolences or wishes to the heads of religious communities. This happened many times starting from 1461 when Sultan Mehmed II established the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. Erdogan is basically keeping up the old tradition, but uses the new technologies.”
Even the tweet itself, which was written in the Western Armenian dialect, provides some clues about Erdogan’s intentions, experts said.
“The word Armenian, the ‘a’ should be in upper case, it’s a very important aspect, when you’re referring to a nation you don’t write it in lower case in Armenian. So there are certain shortcomings,” Der Mattossian told Newsweek, adding that the word "family" also had a letter missing in the tweet.
Turkey and Armenia do not currently have diplomatic relations and the border between the two countries remains closed. Russian soldiers man much of the dividing line separating them.
Armenia wants Ankara to recognize formally that Ottoman Turkey attempted to exterminate the Armenians when 1.5 million of them were killed during World War I. The issue of genocide recognition has embittered Turkey’s relationship with Armenia, and with some of the roughly 28 countries, and the majority of U.S. states, which recognize the Armenian genocide.
Turkey, for its part, maintains that the murders took place during skirmishes and uprisings, and claims that the goal was not to exterminate all Armenians. The country also argues that its smaller neighbor has designs on some of Turkey’s territory.
MediaMax, Armenia
March 12 2019
British Embassy in Armenia comments on Lydian’s notice
The British Embassy in Armenia hopes that the Armenian government and Lydian International will continue discussions towards a solution.
At the request of Mediamax, the embassy commented on Lydian U.K. Corporation Limited’s decision to formally notify the Armenian government of the existence of disputes with the government.
“Lydian International has informed the British Embassy in Yerevan of the decision of Lydian U.K. Corporation Limited formally to notify the Government of the Republic of Armenia of the existence of disputes with the Government of Armenia under the 1996 Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Armenia for the Promotion and Protection of Investments.
It is regrettable that the unresolved issue relating to the Amulsar project has led to this decision and it is hoped that the Government of Armenia and Lydian International Ltd will continue their discussions towards a solution,” the embassy told Mediamax.
RFE/RL Report
Pashinian Again Calls For Karabakh’s Engagement In Talks With Azerbaijan
March 12, 2019
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again called for Nagorno-Karabakh’s becoming a full party to the negotiations as he addressed on Tuesday his top security aides ahead of his first meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to be held with international mediators’ assistance sometime soon.
Together with Nagorno-Karabakh leader Bako Sahakian Pashinian presided over the first-ever joint meeting of Armenia’s and Nagorno-Karabakh’s Security Councils held in the Karabakh capital of Stepanakert today.
In his opening remarks before the start of the meeting the Armenian premier described it as “unprecedented” and “very symbolic” and singled out three main issues to be addressed by senior representatives of the Armenian political and military leadership.
Pashinian reiterated that Nagorno-Karabakh’s becoming a full party to the negotiations conducted under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group co-chairmanship (the United States, Russia, France) will be a key point during his upcoming discussions with Aliyev.
“This is not a whim, nor a precondition. This is simple logic that
Nagorno-Karabakh’s involvement is key to the settlement process,” Pashinian stressed, as quoted by his press office.
Azerbaijan has opposed Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation in the talks as a separate party, insisting that the region is “occupied” by Armenia and negotiations should be held only with official Yerevan. At the same time, the Azerbaijani leadership has repeatedly raised the issue of ethnic Azerbaijanis displaced from Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh during the 1988-1994 war.
Pashinian explained that unlike Aliyev, for whom “Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community” also voted as current citizens of Azerbaijan, he cannot represent the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, since only citizens of Armenia voted for him and his political team in Armenian elections. The international community, Pashinian said, is represented at the negotiations by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. “So far, the negotiation process has in fact involved all stakeholders except one… The problem is that no one has the authority and
legitimacy to represent the people of Nagorno-Karabakh at the negotiations today,” he said.
At the same time, Pashinian described as absurd claims that by seeking Nagorno-Karabakh’s involvement in the process Armenia tries to shun responsibility and put the entire responsibility on the authorities or the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. “The Republic of Armenia has and will be the number one guarantor of Nagorno-Karabakh’s security and will continue its involvement in the peace process,” the Armenian prime minister underscored.
In its latest statement issued over the weekend the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs reiterated that “a fair and lasting settlement must be based on the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, including in particular the non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples.”
“It also should embrace additional elements as proposed by the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries in 2009-2012, including: return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final
legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation,” the mediating troika said.
Speaking before the Security Councils’ meeting in Stepanakert, Pashinian said that one of the questions to answer was whether the government of Armenia accepts these three principles and six elements as a basis for the negotiation process.
“This is really an important question, but in answering this question we need important clarifications. What can these principles mean in practice and who has the right to interpret them? This is important, because the way Azerbaijan interprets these principles is unacceptable for us. We, of course, can come up with our own interpretation of these principles, but it’s pointless because our
goal is not to engage in a war of words, but to have an efficient negotiation process. And consequently, the basis for the negotiation process should not leave room for different interpretations,” Pashinian said.
“However, the principles and elements proposed by the co-chairs have given rise to all sorts of interpretations over the past 10 years and, therefore, the most important objective of the forthcoming negotiation process should be to clarify the so-called main concepts – the three principles and six elements, and we are ready also for such a conversation.”
Another major issue pointed out by the Armenian prime minister at the Stepanakert meeting is preparing societies for peace.
“I think it is necessary to emphasize that preparing the peoples for peace cannot be a separate issue of only one government involved in the negotiations. This should be joint work. I mean, for example, preparing Azerbaijan’s society should take place not only with the participation of Azerbaijan’s government but also with the participation of Armenia’s government. It was this consideration that forced me to make a statement from the parliament tribune last fall, a statement that was, in fact, unprecedented for our reality, as I
said that any solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should be acceptable for the people of Armenia, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the people of Azerbaijan… Unfortunately, we do not hear similar statements and do not see similar steps from the president of Azerbaijan. Despite this, I am ready to continue the dialogue not only with the president of Azerbaijan, but also with
the people of Azerbaijan, because I am convinced that the people of Azerbaijan are as peace-loving as the people of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinian concluded.
For his part, in his opening remarks Nagorno-Karabakh leader Sahakian, in particular, stressed that international recognition remains a priority for Stepanakert.
As a result of discussions both security councils reaffirmed that
Nagorno-Karabakh’s “defense capabilities are guaranteed and are at the high level.” “At the same time the two Armenian sides again expressed their support for and commitment to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group and on the basis of the fundamental principles of international law, in particular, the right of peoples to
self-determination,” the Armenian prime minister’s press office said in the press release.
The Jerusalem Post
March 11 2019
Fr. Hampartzoum of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem passes away
His last position was that of Chief Dragoman, the word means translator and was bestowed on those who could speak Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. As well as European languages.
By Hagay Hacohen
Fr. Hampartzoum Chief Dragoman of the Armenian Patriarchate and a member of the St. James Brotherhood passed away on Sunday.
He spent more than four decades at the service of his church as a celibate priest, after being accepted into the order in 1979 by the late Archbishop Dirayr Mardikian.
His last position was that of Chief Dragoman, translator, a title bestowed on those who could speak Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, as well as European languages.
First recorded in the 13th century, the word became an honorary position for those who facilitate communication between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.
The funeral services will begin on Tuesday afternoon and will continue until Wednesday morning during Divine Liturgy. Services will be held Tuesday, March 12 at 4 p.m. and Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., at St. James Cathedral.
In Memoriam: Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan (1956-2019)
By Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian, University of Oxford
Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan was one of the most courageous, principled and forward looking church leaders in the contemporary history of the Armenian Church. His youth, charisma, strong pastoral and administrative leadership were assets that the community in Turkey needed at the time of his election as Patriarch. However, his decade-long illness made it impossible to fulfil the hopes of the expected new era in the life of the Armenian community in Turkey.
Physically a towering figure, even as he resembled a biblical character, his thinking was fully in step with the times, creative and purposeful. Above all, as a priest and hierarch, he was a deeply spiritual person and tried to live what he preached. He became an inspiring role model for multitudes of young people for whom he dedicated serious time and energy with the love of an elder brother.
For Patriarch Mesrob, Christian faith and Armenian culture and language were inseparably intertwined—like body and soul. Unlike many high ranking clergymen, his sermons were almost entirely focused on the Gospel message and its relevance to Armenians today. His Eastern message to the Armenian people on the occasion of the Jubilee of Christianity in Armenia in 2001, was indicative: “Although you have not personally seen the miraculous Resurrection of the Savior, re-confess and strengthen your faith in the witness of the first Illuminators, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew and the other Apostles. Anchor unshakably your spiritual life in the preaching, character and exemplary life of our Patron Saint, Gregory the Illuminator, and the multitudes of other Christ-loving holy fathers.”
When in August 1999 a devastating earthquake hit Turkey’s Marmara region, killing almost 20,000 people, injuring more than 27,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, Patriarch Mesrob was one of the first leaders behind the immediate organization of relief work. Within hours after the earthquake, he mobilized the Armenian community and sent rescue teams to the affected areas to help the victims. Aid distribution continued for months. This enormous effort was organized despite far-right Nationalist Action Party Health Minister Osman Durmus’ notorious decision to reject rescuers and aid from Armenia, Greece, and Romania. In a touching move, Mutafyan adopted three Armenian orphans whose parents were killed in the earthquake—one of them a 12-year-old girl whose left leg was amputated. He assured them that they will be taken care of until they graduate from university.
Two of the eminent patriarchs that Mutafyan admired for their indelible leadership and prolific scholarship were Hovhaness IXth Golod (1715-1741) and the formidable Malachia Ormanyan (1896-1908). But most influential in his life was the saintly Patriarch Shnork Kalustian (1963-1990), his spiritual father and a constant inspiration for the ideal religious life.
Mutafyan’s appreciation and taste for aesthetic details brought a certain degree of sophistication to the Patriarchal office and regalia, yet he remained faithful to church tradition and the rich history of the Patriarchate, which was established in 1461.
The assassination of Hrant Dink in January 2007 had a shocking effect on Mutafyan, as he too, started to receive more frequent death threats. In June of that year, he went to Ankara to meet with the Chief of the General Staff, General Yaşar Büyükanıt, the top military man in Turkey, a rather unusual visit for a religious leader, but indicative of the tortuous relationship of the church and the community with the Turkish state. When asked why Mutafyan wished to meet with the military head rather than the Prime Minister, he said there were allegations that Hrant Dink was assassinated by the security forces and, therefore, he wanted to ask the army chief “the necessary question: What would you advise the Armenians? What should we do?”
In that fateful year, he was involved in a serious car accident from which he did not fully recover. Along with the anxieties caused by death threats, his health gradually deteriorated for mysterious reasons. In the summer of 2008, the Holy Saviour Armenian Hospital in Istanbul (Ս. Փրկիչ Ազգային Հիվանդանոց) officially announced that the Patriarch is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. Eight years later, in October 2016, the Clergy Council of the Patriarchate officially retired him through a canonical procedure, but the Turkish government did not recognize it and insisted that Mutafyan is the Patriarch as long as he is alive. For over a decade until his death on 8th March 2019, he remained in vegetative state in the hospital, away from public view and unable to carry out his patriarchal duties.
He is survived by his mother Diramayr Mari Mutafyan and his sisters.
Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan was elected 84th Patriarch of “Istanbul and All of Turkey” on 14 October 1998, at the young age of 42, after months of state interference in the election process. The election took place only after the Governor of Istanbul sent the required approval of the Government, which permitted the Armenian community in Turkey to proceed. The 79 lay and 10 clergy delegates of the General Assembly of the Armenian Church Community officially represented 15,811 church members from Istanbul, Kayseri, Diyarbakir, Iskenderun, Kirikhan and Vakifkoy.
While historically known as the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople—and still referred to as such in Armenian (Պատրիարքութիւն Հայոց Կոստանդնուպոլսոյ)—the reference to the ancient capital of Byzantium is a taboo and considered a politically charged term. Indeed, a few months before his election, a Turkish television accused Archbishop Mesrob of committing "a crime" by placing a wreath at the funeral of his predecessor with the Armenian inscription: “Patriarchate of Constantinople”. Likewise, the Greek Patriarch, who is recognised as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople by the Orthodox world, is referred to in Turkey and by officialdom as the “Patriarch of Fener”, after the neighbourhood where the patriarchal headquarters are located. It must be noted that both Patriarchates do not have legal status, which means they cannot engage in legal transactions. Ninety-six years after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, the Turkish state continues to refuse to recognise them as legal personalities.
At the time of his election, the Turkish state had implicitly made its displeasure with Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan’s candidacy known. In addition to his audacious public pronouncements as the Chancellor of the Patriarchate, during previous Patriarchal elections in 1990 and 1998, the charismatic bishop had led the campaign for a “people’s choice,” rather than supporting the candidate favoured by the Turkish government. The mobilisation during these elections became the catalyst for the community to become active again and engage with the Government and politics. Mutafyan mobilized a group of young and progressive Armenians and engaged them in community affairs. Among them was Hrant Dink, who became a spokesperson of the Patriarchate in the early 1990s and from where the idea for Agos germinated. The hunger to speak out and the desire to address the "existential" problems surrounding the Armenian Church and community institutions in general, sparked the creation of the bilingual weekly newspaper in April 1996.
Patriarch Mesrob was invariably criticized by the media in Armenia and the Diaspora for statements he had made or policies he had adopted. Fierce criticism were levelled at him from Istanbul to Etchmiadzin and to various circles in the Diaspora, especially when he was publically critical of the Catholicos or when he championed the cause of the Melkonian School in Cyprus, or when he spoke, for domestic reasons in Turkey, against the recognition of the Genocide by foreign parliaments. One Armenian party newspaper preposterously warned that Mutafyan is exporting “his eccentricities to other communities with unchecked imperial ambitions.”
Most notably, in June 1998, Mutafyan made headlines for commenting on the French National Assembly's affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. "The Armenian community in Turkey finds itself between two fires," he said. "The state of Armenia, the Armenian Diaspora and the Turkish government, all three have different views and opinions... when these three shoot at each other, we are right in the middle," he said with frustration.
Leading an extremely vulnerable community required understanding, diplomacy, patience and judgment. Surely, Mutafyan did not satisfy everyone—Armenia, Diaspora or Turkey—but he had said from the outset of his tenure that his responsibility is to place the interests of his flock and community above all other considerations.
In the early 2000s, Patriarch Mesrob and Hrant Dink had bitter disagreements, especially over the critical issue of as to who should represent the Armenian community before the government. Many at times the dispute over policy and procedure played out in the media. Nevertheless, their essential problems and issues vis a vis the Turkish state and society were the same: state-instituted discrimination of minorities and erosion of their rights. In his eulogy at Hrant Dink’s funeral, Patriarch Mesrob lamented the “enmity against the Armenians” created in society and said efforts to eliminate such characterizations should “begin with our school textbooks and our schools to change the attitude, mentality, and practices that are behind the perception of Armenians as enemies, so that our government and people accept us not as foreigners and potential enemies but as citizens of the Republic of Turkey, who have lived for thousands of years on this soil.”
Long before Hrant Dink’s entrance into public life, in the late 1980s there were steady public campaigns through the media and the courts against a number of clergymen—the religious leadership of the community—among them Bishop Mesrob, when he was the outspoken young Chancellor of the Patriarchate. He was falsely accused of supporting, predictably, “terrorist acts against Turks” in sensationalist newspaper headlines. Among a host of preposterous court cases brought against him in the same period, one is notable.
In 1987 Mutafyan appeared in a Turkish Criminal Court in Istanbul to face charges for violating the country’s statutes on the preservation of historical buildings. A state prosecutor had charged him of being guilty of covering the leaking roof of a balcony of the Armenian Patriarchate with rubber-based tiles (“eternite”). The prosecutor asked the court to sentence Mutafyan to two to five year prison term for the offense. A confidential report, revealed during Hrant Dink’s trial, showed that Mutafyan was under surveillance by the police and intelligence services “for his Armenian nationalist inclinations”—as labelled by the state agencies.
Upon his election as Patriarch, Mutafyan was able to develop a modus vivendi with the state, even as he demanded respect for the rights of the church and community with tact and discretion. During a visit to Ankara in 2001, he assured the Chairman of the Grand National Assembly that “the interests of the Turkish Armenians are in line with the interests of the State and the place where the problems of the Community are ought to be discussed is the [Parliament].”
Among the critical challenges Patriarch Mesrob faced at his election was the lack of adequately trained and sufficient number of priests to staff Istanbul's 33 Armenian churches. Over the years he successfully recruited a cadre of young candidates, trained and ordained them to the priesthood. Many of them continue to serve the Patriarchate until today.
Minas Mutafyan, his baptismal name, was born in Istanbul in 1956. Upon completing his elementary education at the local Essayan Armenian School, he attended a British secondary school in Istanbul and later the American High School in Stuttgart, Germany. He graduated with Bachelors in sociology and philosophy from the University of Memphis, Tennessee. He was ordained a priest in May 1979 by his spiritual mentor Patriarch Shnork Kalustian. Mutafyan continued his graduate studies in Old Testament and archaeology at the Hebrew University and the American Biblical Institute in Jerusalem. In September 1986 he was consecrated a bishop by Catholicos Vazken I in Etchmiadzin. While continuing his post graduate studies, he served the pastoral and spiritual needs of the community though various churches in Istanbul and the Princes’ Islands and held high level positions within the Patriarchate.
Being Patriarch of Turkey is not an envious position. The Armenian community, the religious and lay leadership in Turkey have to constantly juggle their ethnic and state loyalties. "Every Armenian in Turkey grows up with three elements in his personality: being a Turkish citizen, then his heritage as an Armenian, and then his faith as a Christian in a country which is overwhelmingly-99 percent-Moslem," Mutafyan had explained in an interview.
The elections of church and charity trusts are major “political” issue for the Turkish Government. It is one of the controlling mechanisms of the state by which it manages the affairs of the minorities and ensures loyalty. Since 2013, the Government has not allowed minorities to hold new elections. Previously, even participation in elections outside Turkey were not allowed. For instance, in 1995, Ankara forbade lay delegates from Istanbul to participate in elections for a new Catholicos in Armenia. A year earlier, the Government had ordered the Patriarchate to disband its Council of lay advisors.
In the coming months it remains to be seen as to how the Turkish government will handle the election of Mutafyan’s successor. Predictably, the election process will face the customary state-imposed restrictions and administrative hurdles, which will be exacerbated by the personality clashes and ambitions of the high ranking clergymen at the Patriarchate. Turkish law mandates Mutafyan’s successor to be a Turkish citizen or at least born in Turkey, preferably one who has completed the mandatory Turkish military service, which limits the list of eligible candidates to only a few. None have the calibre and gravitas of Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan. Enormous challenges are ahead of the Church and community in Turkey.
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