The Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul Meets with Erdoğan and Çavuşoğlu

The 85th Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, Archbishop Sahak Mashalyan, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as reported by ermenihaber.am. The official website of Erdoğan's communications department announced that the meeting took place at the Presidential Palace in Ankara. It was noted that the meeting was closed to the press.

On the same day, January 14, Mashalyan also met with Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Çavuşoğlu took to Twitter to congratulate the newly elected Patriarch, stating, “I congratulate the 85th Patriarch of Turkey’s Armenians, Sahak Mashalyan. May it be good for the Armenian community and our country. We will all continue to work together in our country’s multicultural and tolerant atmosphere.”

It is worth mentioning that after 12 years without a de facto leader, the national representative assembly elected Sahak Bishop Mashalyan as the 85th Patriarch of Istanbul on December 11. The enthronement ceremony of the newly elected patriarch took place on January 11.