Patriarch Sahak II: Turkish-Armenians Want Normalization

The wish of the Armenian community of Turkey is for Armenian-Turkish relations to be normalized. According to Armenpress, this was stated by the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Sahak Mashalian, in a conversation with journalists from Armenia in Istanbul.

"Our community supports the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations. The community wants the relations to become closer. This should also lighten the burden on our shoulders. Armenian-Turkish relations have been so tense in the last 100 years that here the name 'Armenian' is equivalent to a curse. And in Armenia, the name 'Turk' is equivalent to a curse. Therefore, if these relations are corrected, the greatest weight will be lifted from our shoulders. We should breathe in a more friendly atmosphere," noted the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, as reported by "Armenpress".

He emphasized that they constantly follow the meetings of official circles of Armenia and Turkey, adding, "we receive good news from the results of those meetings." In particular, as the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople stressed, it concerns the construction of bilateral roads, the restoration of the Ani bridge, and the entry of a Turkish airline into the Armenian market. "All this is in process. It's just that we are short-lived creatures, we want to see everything quickly, but the life of nations, of states is long, it proceeds more slowly. When we look at the relations between Turkey and Armenia, we have many reasons to be optimistic," he noted.

Speaking about the attitude and disposition of the Turkish authorities towards the community, the Patriarch stated that the current leadership is quite positively disposed. "During their time, we regained our properties, we had our freedoms, today we can renovate our structures, our churches. There was a time when we had to get permission even to hammer a nail. Now all that is done much more easily. The president, ministers visit us, they invite us to various events, they give us a place in the state protocol," said Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Sahak Mashalian, emphasizing the fact that the community's voice has now become more audible.

Nevertheless, there are problems in the life of the Armenian community of Turkey today, among which perhaps the most crucial is the demographic issue. According to the Patriarch, for every one Armenian born within the community, three die.

"If today we are 35-40 thousand, in 25 years we will be 10-15 thousand. The structures of our community are for 125 thousand Armenians. In this city, we have 50 churches: 33 Apostolic, 12 Catholic, 4 Protestant. But we can no longer fill them with people. We once had 50 schools, now only 17," noted Archbishop Sahak Mashalian. He observed that the same painful picture can be seen by looking at the districts of Istanbul that were once inhabited by a large number of Armenians. For example, in the Kumkapı district, where the patriarchate and the Holy Mother of God Cathedral are located, about 40,000 people lived a century ago.

"Whereas now, not even 40 Armenians live in the Kumkapı district. Therefore, in this changing city, whose population is approaching 20 million, the demographic issue has become the biggest problem. Added to this is the emigration that exists among the youth," noted Mashalian.

Referring to the issue of preserving the Armenian language within the community, the Patriarch noted with pain that, as in the Armenian community of Turkey, so in other communities of the Diaspora, the preservation of the mother tongue is becoming more and more difficult. Although many families send their children to Armenian schools, the children mostly do not use it outside the school walls. "Losing the language leads to cultural assimilation because everything about the culture is preserved in the language. If you do not master the language, you cannot penetrate into that culture.

It is in such conditions that we are trying to stay on our feet. There are 3000 students in our schools. The schools do a good job, they help so that at least the students stay side by side. We pass on our literary, linguistic, and cultural heritage to them. With the wealth we have, we are one of the best centers of the diaspora. Our prayer is that what we have preserved around the church for about 600 years, we will continue to preserve in the same way," emphasized the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Sahak Mashalian.