The historical process of secularization and democratization of the Armenian millet (with special reference to the adherents of the Apostolic Armenian Church) of the Ottoman times and the Armenians of Republican Turkey has been impacted by state induced reforms/policies/practices and intra-communal relations both of which were not devoid of various European/Western influences. Establishment of Republic of Turkey introduced a new context of secularization for the religious minorities recognized and protected by the Lausanne Treaty. The overall secularization and modernization project created rew points of tension between state and society/religious communities and among different groups of Armenian population. While the Civil Code of 1926, which all citizens of Turkey were to observe, introduced further secularization for the Armenian community, the de facto annulment of the Armenian Constitution (1863) on the other hand led to establishment of ad hoc committees within the Patriarchate to administer civilian matters of communal life, especially pertaining to community foundations. In conjunction the authority of the Patriarch came to be a controversial issue, both for the state authorities and the Armenian community, a public debate over which has been raised by Agos, Armenian weekly published in Armenian and Turkish since 1996. Its editor, Hrant Dink, raised a debate on the incomplete secularization process of the Armenian population, given the ambiguous position of the Patriarch (ethnarch in temporal affairs and/or spiritual leader) with respect to both the state authority and the Armenian community. Recently, the Armenian community (including the Catholic group) is engaged in a search for strengthening civil initiatives in the administration of community foundations, encouraged by a set of reforms with certain furtherance of positive minority rights, in line with Turkey's bid to accession to the EU, while the debate over the temporal authority of the Patriarch continues in a new context initiated by Mesrob II's illness.