 In September 20, 1920, as a result of his intervention, Prokopios, as well as the local Armenian bishop of Konya, were imprisoned by the nationalist authorities of Mustafa Kemal.Prokopios then was transferred to the prison of Erzurum, and stayed there from October 1920 to May 1922.Soon after his release, he visited Ankara, where he met Mustafa Kemal in an attempt to ask him to abstain from the ecclesiastical dispute concerning the creation of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, due to severe health problems he suffered.