Gregoryen Ermeni Kilisesinde Patrik Seçiminin Krize Dönüşmesi Ve Bunun Türk Basını İle Amerikan Belgelerine Yansıması (1944-1950)
The Patriarchal Election Crisis At The Armenian Patriarchate Of Istanbul: The Repercussion of The Crisis In The American Consular Reports And Turkis

Summary/Abstract: The death of the first Armenian Archbishop of İstanbul during the Republican era, Mesrob I Naroyan, in 1944 led to an unprecedented leadership crisis throughout the whole history of the Patriarchate of İstanbul, which was established in 1461 upon the orders of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. Several international actors, including the main opposition candidate Bakhtiyarian to the locum tenens Archbishop Kevork Arslanian, were involved in the process when the latter refused to initiate the election process for the post of next Archbishop. As this period coincided with the beginnings of the Cold War, the Turkish government strove to solve the interim crisis within its boundaries, a process which started with the Prime Minister Şemsettin Günaydın in 1949 and was finalized in the first months of the Democrat Party government. Finally, in December 1950, an unexpected candidate from South America, Karekin I Khachadourian, who was born in Trabzon, was elected as the 112th Archbishop of İstanbul. This study focuses on unfolding the events during this crisis period of almost seven years from a political history perspective with the help of American government documents and the leading Turkish papers of the time.This article also introduces the history of the Patriarchate of İstanbul before the Republican era with special reference to cornerstones of the Turkish-Armenian relations.

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