FOUNDATIONS

Aram Ateşyan announced that he resigned as the chair of Hovagim 1461 Foundation, which was supposedly established “to solve the problem of legal entity of the patriarchate” and has been at the center of Beykoz land debates.

Bedros Şirinoğlu, Efrim Bağ, Harun Keçecioğlu, Melkon Karaköse, Sebu Aslangil, Nurhan Çetinkaya and Toros Alcan told about February 16 protocol, which triggered the debate in Armenian society of Turkey.

Nor Zartonk made a statement on the crisis concerning the patriarchal election that started with the resignation of Sahak Maşalyan. Stating that the protocol signed in the secret meeting is invalid for Armenian society, Nor Zartonk urged Ateşyan to resign and demanded institutions managed by “wealthy men” become transparent and accountable.

A group of people from different circles of Armenian society gathered in front of the Patriarchate and demand a patriarchal election, which couldn’t have been done for 8 years. The group placed a black wreath on the door.

The municipality filed a lawsuit to the Administrative Court for getting back the land that was returned to Surp Pırgiç Hospital in 2014. After losing that lawsuit, the municipality appealed to Council of State. And 10th Chamber of the Council of State made an unprecedentedly quick ruling and reversed the judgment of the court by reasoning that the land that was expropriated by the municipality cannot be returned to the foundation.

The state hasn’t issued a new regulation in substitution for the one that organizes the election of board members of the minority foundations, which was annulled 3 years ago. Because of this, there is an ongoing uncertainty for months, since elections cannot be hold without a regulation. However, Vice Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan’s statements moved the process to another level.

The land, on which Zeytinburnu Stadium is also located, is returned to Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital Foundation, but this land is turned into green space by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Following the general election, the 13-year long AKP rule is now expected to be replaced by a coalition government. A mountain of problems awaits the new parliament. The acute problems of non-Muslim communities will also feature on the agenda of the new parliament.

The Karagözyan Orphanage Foundation has been celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding with various events since 2013, and the events were crowned with a series of evening receptions that took place with broad participation from the community.

The agenda of the meeting of the Interfoundational Solidarity Platform (VADİP) held on 17 November 2014 was the Minority Foundations Representative elections. The elections will be held on 28 December, and a total of 125 Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Syriac foundations will vote, the minority representative to replace Laki Vingas is expected to be Armenian.