Armenians in Turkey’s Easters Regions Support Pro-Kurdish HDP, Community Representative Says

The geography of the armed clashes between Turkey's security forces and the militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is expanding daily. Today, as reported by Turkish media, PKK detonated explosives they planted on a road in the eastern province of Muş; the attack took place near the village of Suluca in Muş. As a result, twelve Turkish soldiers were injured and taken to Muş State Hospital for treatment, Today's Zaman wrote.

In an interview with Epress.am one of the representatives of the Armenian community of Muş, who wished to remain anonymous, said this was the first armed attack in the province. The armed conflict has recently become commonplace in Diyarbakir, Van, and Cizre; Muş, on the other hand, had not been affected until today. The citizens of Muş, as stated by the interviewee, are aware of the presence of numerous PKK fighters in the region, and often it is them who keep watch over the main roads.

“Turkish officials in Muş, which is almost entirely populated by Kurds, are often afraid to leave the city. Recently, they've been acting cautious even on the territory of Muş, and their family members avoid visiting the outskirts of the city,” the community representative said.

According to him, the entire population of Muş, among them the 200 Armenian families, supports opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) which received 12% of the votes in the latest parliamentary elections in Turkey. 

“The majority of Armenians in the Eastern regions vote for HDP. They failed to form a government after the recent elections, and new elections will now be held. We've no doubts that this time HDP will receive even more votes. It's obvious that President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party will not get any voted in the East which is populated by Kurds. In Istanbul, the number of people voting for Erdogan has also been decreasing.

“Currently, [Erdogan] has begun a campaign against Kurds hoping that the radical nationalists of the National Movement Party, which gained 16.5% in the last elections, will join him. That is the reason groups of young people acting under the auspices of the ruling party have been attacking the houses of minorities in the West of the country and promoting hatred on ethnic grounds. However, there are no such groups in the Eastern regions; here, people are afraid of provocations, and only security forces fight against the PKK,” the interviewee said.