YEREVAN. – Raising the issue of returning the Armenian Catholicosate of Sis at this time was a right decision.Modus Vivendi Center Director, political scientist Ara Papyan, noted the aforesaid at a press conference on Friday.

In his conviction, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church had waited until the Armenian Genocide Centennial to raise this matter.

“In all likelihood, the Catholicosate of Sis will be able to be returned, since the [respective] legal package exists in full.

“[But] it’s [altogether] another thing that it will not be possible to resolve the matter in Turkish courts; it [i.e. the issue] could go to the ECHR [i.e. the European Court of Human Rights]. But there is no reference to [the Armenian] genocide here, too.

“Here the court shall acknowledge that a legal person was unlawfully deprived of his possessions. This is important in the sense that it is a step towards the restoration of justice. This could become a precedent for the Catholicosate of Sis to manage to return the other [Armenian] churches, too,” Papyan concluded.

As reported earlier, Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia on Tuesday petitioned to the Constitutional Court of Turkey demanding the return of the Catholicosate Seat and estates of Sis, which are located in the historical Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, in modern-day Turkey.