July 13, 2007 - 18:09 AMT
Turkish Armenians to vote for ruling AKP
In terms of political parties, 60 percent of Turkish Armenians will vote for the outgoing Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In Istanbul's second electoral region where a lot of people with Armenian origins reside, they will vote for the independent leftist candidate professor Baskan Oran, bilingual Turkish Armenian weekly Agos editor-in-chief Etyen Mahcupyan told Tempo magazine. He emphasized that Turkish Armenians have always voted for center-right parties.
"Turkish Armenians will vote for the AKP. According to our reviews in Istanbul's second electoral region they will mostly vote for independent candidate Baskan Oran. But excluding the independent candidate factor, 60 percent will vote for the AKP," Mahcupyan stated, adding that the rest of the votes will be split between pro-secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), nationalist Young Party (GP) founded by the controversial entrepreneur Cem Uzan and the center-right Democrat Party (DP).