Turkey’s Armenian community is eagerly awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit at the Council of State, the country’s top administrative court, that is likely to have a major impact on how the Armenian patriarchate of Constantinope functions in the future. The legal battle concerns who should elect the Armenian patriarch — a small group of clergy or the broader community.

The case has pitted one segment of the Armenian community against the Interior Ministry and other community members. It has also exposed a serious rift that sheds light on the Armenian minority’s reality in Turkey and the government’s strategies for controlling the patriarchate.

The Istanbul-based Armenian patriarchate is a 553-year-old institution that holds spiritual authority over 42 churches. Its patriarchs have long been elected by the community.

The Turkish state’s attempts to control the patriarchate became more systematic after the 1960 military coup. In 1961, the council of ministers issued a decree stipulating that elections for a patriarch must be held on a date and at a venue selected by the Istanbul governor’s office. Every government since has sought to control these elections.