Epress.am News from Armenia
For many years the Armenian community in Turkey has been saying that the Surp Yerrortutyun Church Foundation in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district has adopted a non-democratic policy and is governed by a non-democratic leadership.
Note, Turkey’s largest and wealthiest church foundation has been governed by the same board members for over 30 years.
The latest developments in the foundation have caused more anger among the Armenian community: in the past year, around 6,000 signatures were collected against the foundation by members of the Armenian community who say that the foundation doesn’t hold transparent elections. Board members were elected last year for the sixth time.
Local newspaper Radikal, in an article on this movement and protest by Istanbul’s Armenian community, spoke with entrepreneur Efrim Bag, who had put forth his candidacy to become a board member last year but was not elected.
“We just want transparent elections, and we want to be informed about the foundation’s income and budget. This is a church foundation, which belongs to all Armenians and not just a few,” said Bag.
Note, the revenue of Armenian church foundations in Turkey comes from donations by members of the congregation. The collected funds are managed by the foundation’s board of directors, to spend on the needs of the community.