Armenian community of Turkey satisfied with results of parliamentarian elections

PanARMENIAN.Net - National minorities of Turkey are happy with the results of parliamentarian early elections held on July 22. Representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Jewish and Armenian communities of Istanbul all expressed happiness with the landslide victory of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), underlining they do not fear that AKP has a hidden agenda to establish Islamic rule.



Luiz Bakar, a spokesperson for the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul said the community is happy about the results of elections.



Silvio Ovadio, head of the Jewish community of Istanbul said most Turkish Jews believe that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will have to seek consensus more often, since his party now represents half of the electorate. "We do not fear Islamization of Turkey. The Ottoman Sultans had always been very friendly to Jews.... We have no concerns about the Jewish lifestyle here. Turkey is not Iran. There are no mullahs here. True, there are religious communities, but that is not the same thing. These are much more modern than those in Iran are and they oppose the situation there. The secular section in Turkey is also very strong," the head of the Jewish community of Istanbul said.



In his part Mikhail Vasiliadis, editor-in-chief of the Greek-language daily Apoyevmatini, said the Greek community is pleased with the results. "Minorities are always others. But for other parties, there is an 'ethnic' element. For AKP minorities are others, not as elements of another nation but as members of another religion," Vasiliadis said. "The experience of five years has shown us that whenever there was a positive bill in parliament regarding minorities, the Republican People's Party (CHP) always tried to block it. The only complaint we have about AKP is they didn't stand up strongly against objections from nationalists," he said, Today's Zaman reported.