Turkish political parties fail to nominate Armenian candidates

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's citizens of Armenian descent have tried their chances with the ruling and opposition parties by applying to be candidate nominees, but they were disappointed. There were three Turkish citizens of Armenian origin, Arev Cebeci, Melkon Karakose and Herman Balyan, who all applied from Istanbul, where the majority of the country's Armenians live, to be candidate nominee on the lists of political parties for the upcoming June 12 general elections.

Cebeci, who until recently served in the Bakirkoy Municipality as a representative for the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said the CHP has failed the test. “Non-Muslim minorities never felt close to the CHP because of its policies reminiscent of the Committee of Union and Progress, but I wanted to see if the leadership of [Kemal] Kilicdaroglu would make a difference,” he said, referring to Kilicdaroglu’s speech at a recent party congress in which he had given signals that the party was ready to nominate candidates of Armenian and Kurdish origin. “They have Kurdish candidates, but not Armenians,” Cebeci added.

On the other hand, the AK Party, which is known for its reformist initiatives in regards to solving Turkey's chronic problems, which remain obstacles to the democratic development of the country, did not nominate any Armenian candidates, despite expectations from the Armenian community. Melkon Karakose, a businessman who served as chair of the Foundation of the Surp Kevork Church, said it is “unfortunate” that there are no Armenian candidates nominated for June 12 general elections. “We have been part of this land for about 4,000 years. We would like to take part in the great mosaic of Turkey,” said Karakose, who had applied for a candidate nomination from the AK Party.

“I was surprised that the AK Party, CHP and Peace and Democracy Party [BDP] did not nominate any candidates of Armenian origin because they had announcements supporting the idea that there should be Armenians in Parliament, too,” said Hayko Bagdat, a businessperson who was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and an Armenian father.

Bagdat's candidacy was supported by a group of people who backed academic Baskin Oran in the 2007 local elections from the 2nd District in Istanbul, which has a large non-Muslim community. The group had gone to Ankara to seek support from the pro-Kurdish BDP for Bagdat's candidacy. “Not having any candidate nominees of Armenian descent shows that there are still prejudices against Armenians,” Bagdat said.

Of the 23 non-Muslims who have been elected as deputies in the Parliament of the Turkish Republic since 1935, the most recent Armenian was Berc Sahak Turan, who served in 1961-1964, Today’s Zaman reported.