Hetq.am / Sako Arian - Woman Claims
Former Constantinople Vicar General Was Her Father. Based on the claim of a woman in Turkey
that the recently deceased Vicar General of the Armenian Patriarchate of
Constantinople was her father, a Turkish court has permitted the exhumation of
the clergyman for DNA testing.
According to the Istanbul Armenian newspaper Jamanag,
Takouhie Balkin filed a claim with the court alleging
that she is the daughter of Archbishop Shahan Svajian, who died at the age of
87 on September 23, 2013. Not only are reputations at stake, but also
Archbishop Svajian’s inheritance, which
the late clergyman willed to Istanbul Armenian institutions.
For further clarification I contacted Jamanag Editor
Sevan Deirmendjian, who told me that the clergyman’s grave, located in the Holy
Cross Armenian Church section of the Scutari Bağlarbaşı cemetery, and was
exhumed for DNA testing. The graves of such Armenian notables as Bedros Tourian
and Mateos Zarifian are located here.
“This morning I was able to get in touch with Hovhannes Goboyian,
secretary of the Holy Cross Parish Council, who verified that the grave had
been opened on the orders of the court,” Deirmendjian said, adding that a piece
of Archbishop Svajian’s tooth was taken for testing.
The Jamanag editor added that Takouhie Balkin, the woman
in question, is about twenty years younger than the deceased archbishop.
Vahan Svajian, the late archbishop’s nephew told Jamanag
that he doesn’t know all the particulars of the court case, but that he rushed
to the cemetery with his lawyer on the day of the exhumation. The nephew told
the newspaper that he would be closely following developments in the court.
Deirmendjian reluctantly confessed that according to
rumors circulating in the Armenian community, the archbishop had fathered a
daughter before becoming a celibate priest. The mother was said to have died
during childbirth and the girl was handed over to the grandmother.
Even if the rumors are proven true, the editor told me,
they cannot cast a shadow over Archbishop Svajian’s dedicated service as a
clergyman.
How the court case will affect the inheritance issue remains
to be seen. If the court recognizes Takouhie Balkin as the legal heir of the
late archbishop will it also rule that the assets be turned over to her? What
remains puzzling is the silence of the Constantinople Patriarchate?
In this regard Deirmendjian noted that in the eyes of the
Turkish legal system Archbishop Svajian was an ordinary citizen of Turkey, and
that in response to Balkin’s suit the courts must launch an investigation.
Another nagging question that raises a degree of doubt
over the “impartiality” of the actions of the Turkish legal system is where has
Takouhie Balkin been hiding for all these years?
If the Turkish authorities regard the decision to exhume
the grave of Archbishop Svajian as “par for the course”, yet another ordinary
judicial decision, I would argue that it is totally unacceptable whatever the
circumstances.
Archbishop Shahan Svajian served the Armenian Church with
dedication and distinction for more than 50 years.
As such, at the very least, the Turkish courts should
have consulted Armenian Church representatives before allowing such a
desecration.
Loussapatz The Dawn [loussapatz.g@gmail.com]
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