Turkish opposition party names ethnic Armenian to top candidate list

PanARMENIAN.Net - The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has named an ethnic Armenian to top their final candidate list for the upcoming elections on June 7 in a move to prioritize candidates with different backgrounds, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Lawyer Selina Özuzun Doğan has reportedly been named by the CHP in the first place for Istanbul’s second region in the elections.

Born in 1977, she is a graduate of Notre Dame De Sion French High School and studied law at Galatasaray University. She also has a master’s degree from Istanbul’s Bilgi University. She speaks Armenian, French and English.

CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had previously declared he would reserve the top places of important cities like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir for female candidates.

In this way, Kılıçdaroğlu has strengthened the Istanbul second region with his Armenian, Kurdish, academic and journalist quota choices against the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) candidates. The other quota candidates respectively include deputy CHP head Sezgin Tanrıkulu, sociologist Sencer Ayata and journalist Enis Berberoğlu.

All political parties are to submit their candidate lists to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on April 7.