Social and political roles of the Armenian clergy from the late Ottoman era to the Turkish republic

This article examines the treatment of Armenians by the late Ottoman and Turkish republican state with a special focus on the social and political roles of the Armenian clergy, especially the patriarch. After giving a brief account of the historical evolution of the millet system – the principles an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Philosophy & social criticism Vol. 43; no. 4-5; pp. 539 - 547
Main Author:	Kılıçdağı, Ohannes
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London, England SAGE Publications 01-05-2017 Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:	Clergy Empires Group identity Leadership Minority groups Muslims Religious leaders Rights State role Treatment methods Armenian patriarchate of İstanbul Ottoman Armenians minorities in Turkey Ottoman millet system
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This article examines the treatment of Armenians by the late Ottoman and Turkish republican state with a special focus on the social and political roles of the Armenian clergy, especially the patriarch. After giving a brief account of the historical evolution of the millet system – the principles and practices applied by the Ottoman state in its treatments of non-Muslims – the article tries to understand whether the new regime kept it or adopted a modern approach during the transition from empire to nation-state. It concludes that the republican state has created a deliberate inconsistency in its treatment of the Armenian community and patriarch. Although it has avoided recognizing them as a group and their group’s rights it continuously discriminated against them because of their group identity. The republican state has tried to downgrade the patriarch to a mere religious figure without any social or political role which is defined de jure. However, it has continued to accept him as de facto leader of the Armenian community on some occasions.
ISSN:	0191-4537 1461-734X
DOI:	10.1177/0191453716688366