Foundations General Director Adnan Ertem has stated that, according to Article 40 of the Treaty of Lausanne, Armenian schools have special status, and that it is not possible to treat them as private schools; and that therefore, legal procedures applied to private schools cannot be applied to minority schools.

Within the scope of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Commemoration events, all Armenian Churches across the world will ring their bells at 19.15 on April 23, Thursday, in commemoration of the victims of the Genocide. However, the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate is not participating in this commemoration ceremony.

Planning permission has been issued for the historical site in Germüş village, a former Armenian settlement 10 kilometres away from Urfa city centre.

The Hrant Dink School in the basement of the Gedikpaşa Armenian Evangelical Church where students from Armenia whose families have come to Turkey to work study under difficult conditions is waiting for the support of the Armenian community.

The State of Turkey, after having seized a building that belongs to the Bulgarian Exarchate Orthodox Church Foundation, is now demanding a fee in return for occupying the building for 3 years –after returning the building to the foundation. The Treasury has issued a 50 thousand TL fine to the foundation.

A new library in Bitlis will be named after William Saroyan. Journalist Ahmet Tulgar, who came up with the idea, reports that he met with Bitlis Co-Mayor Hüseyin Olan and discussed the idea for a library.

The gravestone rendered illegible because it was left beneath Garabet Balyan’s gravestone has been identified as Simon Amira Dadyan’s. Both gravestones have been taken into preservation at the Archaeological Museum to be returned to the Armenian community.

Although there are Armenian churches in Diyarbakır, Van and Kayseri, regular mass cannot be held because religious clergy is not appointed by the Patriarchate. There are no permanent religious officials in churches in Turkey apart from the churches in Istanbul and the church in İskenderun.

Speaking at a symposium, Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, Deputy Patriarch of Turkey Armenians said “It is high time to stop the Armenian Question being used across international platforms as a wild card, as the Joker in a card deck”.

Arson, not an accident, was the cause of the fire that broke out on the night of December 7, Sunday, at the building that is home to KKBD (Holy Bible Society) and KUT (Kadıköy International Community Church). According to Pam Ohanyan of KUT, thousands of Holy Books and CDs were destroyed in the fire that broke out on the floor where the library of the church was also located.

The cause of the fire at the Kadıköy International Church (KUT) was arson, an investigation has proven.

A letter penned by the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian addressed to Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II about lowering of the status of the Jerusalem Patriarchate to a Diocese has created great debate in the Armenian Church.

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.

Artak Beglaryan, who during the Karabakh War, at the age of six, lost his sight when a landmine they played with in their back garden exploded and also lost his father at the same war, did not give up, and has today become the press secretary of the Prime Minister of Karabakh.

Sarkis and Arman, the young heirs of Istanbul Agop Cymbals, explain the subtleties of the art of cymbal making

Zakarya Mildanoğlu’s book ‘Armenian Periodicals 1794-2000’ has been published by Aras Yayıncılık. Mildanoğlu’s work brings together around 3650 Armenian periodicals from the year 1794, when the first Armenian newspaper Aztarar was published, until the year 2000. We talked with Zakarya Mildanoğlu about his book which is the product of around 30 years of work, and the over 200 year history of Armenian periodicals.

The Cilicia Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon, one of the two major churches of the Armenian Apostolic Church, will officially demand the return its properties in Sis (Kozan)