HDP MP Garo Paylan has sent an inquiry to Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, asking to respond to the termination of the election process of the Armenian Patriarch by the Istanbul Governor’s Office, Agos reported.

he said Mesrob Mutafyan, the Patriarch of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, has been unable to carry out his mission for eleven years due to dementia, he reminded, adding that on March 15, 2017 Archbishop Karekin Bekchiyan was elected as Locum Tenens.

However, the Istanbul Governor’s Office sent a letter to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople on February 5, noting that it does not recognize Karekin Bekchiyan as Locum Tenens, but recognizes Aram Atesyan as General Vicar.

Garo Palyan said in the inquiry that the decision caused deep despair in society. In this context he asked the Interior Minister to explain the basis of the interference of the state with the Armenian community in the patriarchal electoral process.