Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenians in Turkey mainly voted for independent MPs in Turkey’s parliamentary elections yesterday, Coordinator of Programs at the Istanbul-based IMC TV Aris Nalci told Epress.am today.
According to Nalci, Istanbul Armenians, for the most part, voiced their support for independent candidate Abdullah Levent Tüzel (who was elected with 135,000 votes), as well as writer, director Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who was also elected, gathering 119,000 votes.
Elected in the town of Mersin was independent candidate Ertuğrul Kürkçü, who closely cooperates with the local Armenian community.
Recall, the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Parliament (BDP) supported independent candidates in Turkey’s 2011 parliamentary elections.
“This time Armenians more so voted in favor of pro-Kurdish politicians because at least officially they weren’t representing BDP — in front of their names it was written independent. If the BDP was represented in the elections, then Armenians would be afraid of supporting them. I think that many members of the Armenian community don’t want to connect themselves with the Kurds,” said Nalci.
Nalci noted that some of the elected independents have already stated their willingness to support minorities. Önder, in particular, in a televised statement, stated that he will be the voice of all minorities.
“In these elections, though the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won, everyone was focused on all the pro-Kurdish candidates. They got 36 seats in parliament, which is a record,” he added.