Turkish Armenian Patriarchate published a statement on their Facebook page regarding the Foundation Boards which didn’t take place in more than 7 years.
Below is the statement:
“As the members of our community know, the Foundation Board of Directors elections have not been held for a long time. The problems arising from this, on the other hand, occupy our congregation agenda, exponentially. In the context of the disturbances of our community members to our Patriarchate and their requests for solutions, the issue was addressed in the 10th session of our Spiritual Assembly on 1 July 2020. The councilors heard the necessity to explain by making determinations on the following matters. Foundation elections, which have not been held for more than seven years, underlie all these problems. Since there is no written law or regulation for our foundations that must be managed within the framework of the law, an effort was made to save the day by applying administrative decisions until a promising regulation and / or law was prepared. It is a matter to realize that the Foundation Election Regulation is reorganized and implemented by the elections that will reflect the will of our people in this way and to renew the community life without losing more time.
In the context of our congregation practices and a fair management approach, the practice of “The foundation administrations can complete with new names at the request of the Foundation Board of Directors” until the elections of the Community Foundation Board is held may lead to inappropriate situations. While this is the case, attempts by some Foundation Boards to include their first-degree relatives in the foundation management have been reflected in the press. This situation was found to be uncomfortable for the members of our community and other directors of board. Considering this, our Spiritual Assembly carries the concerns of our community and conveyed these sensitivities to the relevant authorities in the context of the fair management understanding of our Foundations.
We are continuing our prayers to ensure the necessity due to the difficulties that arise in the form of administration of our Foundations subject to the control of our state, the attention of the necessary authorities, and efforts are being made to resolve the issue in the most urgent manner.”
