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Turkey’s citizens of Armenian descent have tried their chances with the ruling and opposition parties by applying to be parliament candidate nominees, but they were disappointed, reports Today’s Zaman.
There were three Turkish citizens of Armenian origin, Arev Cebeci, Melkon Karaköse and Herman Balyan, who all applied from İstanbul, where the majority of the country’s 60,000 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 Bakırköy 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] Kılıçdaroğlu would make a difference,” he said, referring to Kılıçdaroğlu’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 did not nominate any Armenian candidates, despite expectations from the Armenian community.
Melkon Karaköse, 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 Karaköse, 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 Bağdat, a businessperson who was born in İstanbul to a Greek mother and an Armenian father.
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 Berç Sahak Turan, who served in 1961-1964. There were several deputies of Armenian origin in Ottoman parliaments prior to 1915.