Former Armenian vicar calls for obedience to Turkish authoritiesDecember 21, 2017 - 17:43 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Discussions surrounding the election of a new leader for the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople are still underway, former vicar, archbishop Aram Ateşyan said on Thursday, December 21. Following Ateşyan's resignation in May, the Armenian community elected Archbishop Garegin Bekchian as patriarchal locum tenens. Ateşyan nonetheless claims to still be the vicar as the Turkish authorities have allegedly confirmed him in the post. “They always tell me that (Turkish president Recep Tayyip) Erdogan is my brother, and I feel good about it,” Ateşyan said. “The better are my relations with the president, the prime minister and the ministers, the more my community will benefit from them.” The former vicar also weighed in the letter he sent to Erdogan following Germany’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide in June 2016, claiming that the move was in the interest of the community. At the same time, Ateşyan failed to describe the murder of 1,5 million innocent Armenians by Ottoman Turkey as Genocide. Also, Ateşyan called for obedience to the Turkish government which rejects Bekchian and demands election of a new Patriarch. Top stories The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. London’s Armenian community has been left feeling “under attack” after the city’s Genocide monument was vandalised. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. Armenia to sing in 2nd semi-final of Eurovision The organizers of Eurovision 2024 have revealed the running order of the countries in the two semi-finals. |