Armenian religious leader in Turkey makes bribery complaint
The religious leader of Turkeyâs Armenian Patriarchate has filed a complaint about a person who identified himself as a Prime Ministry inspector and who then requested 6,000 Turkish Liras for his service.
Aram AteÅyan, the acting head of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey, filed a complaint against Kemal Tayfun Nargin, who identified himself as an inspector of the Prime Ministryâs General Directorate of National Estate.
Nargin is charged with fraud, abusing public institutions and is facing up to seven years in prison. The 36-year-old did not attend the hearing.
AteÅyan, who attended Narginâs hearing, claimed the suspect arrived at the patriarch claiming he needed a âgiftâ to finalize the return of the historic Sansaryan Han building located in Istanbulâs Eminönü district. The building was set to be given to the Armenian community as part of the returning of minoritiesâ properties.
Nargin called the patriarch to arrange a meeting; he had AteÅyan fill out a form that had the Prime Ministry logo on it and then asked for âa giftâ from the religious leader. AteÅyan said he gave him 3,000 liras, but Nargin found the amount inadequate, so AteÅyan proceeded with providing a further 3,000 liras.
After finding out that the form was fraudulent, AteÅyan contacted EU Minister Egemen BaÄıŠabout the situation.
AteÅyanâs lawyer Ali ElbeyoÄlu, however, said the issue was dubious, since the returning of the Sansaryan Han was a subject only AteÅyan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan and BaÄıŠknew about.
âWe did not even know about [the returning of Sansaryan Han] then. One man goes to the patriarch about...
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