Bekçiyan: the process of election should start now

On April 19, Değabah Bekçiyan and Bishop Sahak Maşalyan came together with the Coordination Committee of VADİP. After the meeting, Değabah Bekçiyan released a written statement. Saying that “the process of election should start now”, Bekçiyan criticized the attitude of the foundation executives. Bekçiyan stated that he will launch meetings for forming the Electoral Committee and he criticized the current administration of the patriarchate. 

Here are the highlights from the statement:

“In the last 5 weeks, I preferred to wait and hold some meetings meanwhile upon the opinions and recommendations of various authorities. There was a referendum ahead and the state advised us to be patient for a while. Though the patriarchal election is an internal matter of our church and society, we had to consider the recommendations and needs of the government. However, in my opinion, we should start the process for electing our 85^th patriarch now.

After the değabah election, I expected civil society and foundation executives to respect and support this election. I also expected the current administration of the patriarchate to act in accordance with the result of değabah election. Unfortunately, I have to say that my expectations haven't been met. 

We held a meeting with Coordination Committee of VADİP and Bishop Maşalyan accompanied me. I saw that the members of the committee respect the result of değabah election, but they hesitate over starting the process of patriarchal election and think that we have to wait for a while.

Nevertheless, the members of the committee stated that relations with the patriarchate and the process of election would normalize within 10-15 days. Relying on this statement, I will work for forming the Electoral Committee. 

On the other hand, it is clear that clerics who held the değabah election are under serious pressure. As the elected değabah and a man of the cloth, I have to urge the current administration of the patriarchate to stop this unfair and improper behavior and act in accordance with the ecclesiastical ethics.”