ISTANBUL, JUNE 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Karekin II Catholicos of All Armenians arrived in Istanbul on late June 21. Radio Liberty informs about it, mentioning that this Catholicos visit is the 12th one in number during the whole history. During the last 50 years heads of the Armenian church visited Turkey only three times. Vazgen I Catholicos paid an official visit to Turkey in 1961. He met in Ankara with the authorities of Turkey and laid a wreath to the grave of Ataturk. Karekin I Catholicos visited Turkey the next time, in 1996. That visit was not official: the Armenian community of Turkey received Karekin I. Ara Gochunian, the editor-in-chief of the “Zhamanak” (time) daily being published in Istanbul informed that the present visit of Karekin II is not official, either, but, unlike the previous Catholicos visit, Karekin II met with the Istanbul Governor. The Catholicos of All Armenians will visit the Armenian representation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization as well. During the first two days of the visit, His Holiness Patriarch will be received by the Greek Patriarchate. 38 Armenian churches, 15 colleges function in Istanbul today where more than 3500 Armenian children study. Two dailies and one monthly are published. There are other adjacent publications as well. Though there is no official statistics about the concrete Armenian inhabitation’s number, according to calculation of the Armenian church and numerous Turk officials, 70-80 thousand citizens of Turkey of Armenian origin live in the country. Dozens of thousands of Armenians emigrated Turkey from Armenia, after Armenia’s becoming independent. Foreign Minister of Turkey Abdullah Gul stated in one of his recent speeches that there are about 40 thousand Armenians in Turkey. But, in the opinion of representatives of the Armenian community, those numbers are exaggerated. His Holiness will stay in Turkey for a week.