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ISTANBUL: Armenians worry over Erdoan's probable presidency

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  • ISTANBUL: Armenians worry over Erdoan's probable presidency

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    July 6 2014

    Armenians worry over Erdoðan's probable presidency


    Armenians are feeling concerned over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    Erdoðan's presidential candidacy and believe that placing centralized
    power in his hands is a potential threat to the safety and security of
    Armenians, given his divisive manner of ruling.

    Turkey is slated to elect a president by popular vote for the first
    time on Aug. 10, and parties have been announcing their candidates for
    the upcoming race. After all other candidates were announced, Erdoðan
    finally declared that he would be the presidential candidate for the
    ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

    He is expected to win, and if he does, one result is that he could
    maintain the power of his 11-year rule in Turkey. It's believed he
    would continue his authoritarian style, based on his Islamic agenda
    and divisive rhetoric, although during a televised speech from Ankara
    on Tuesday he said he would be an "all-embracing president of Turkey."

    Political analyst and Regional Studies Center founder Richard
    Giragosian told Sunday's Zaman from Yerevan that Erdoðan is a dynamic
    and popular political figure in Turkey, but that he is also
    polarizing.

    "He is often using extremely aggressive and bellicose language when
    referring to the Armenians or Armenian issue," Giragosian said.

    Erdoðan, constantly using abusive and insulting language towards
    minorities and "the other," is well-known for his provocative style
    and the pejorative remarks he has made against Armenians, Jews and the
    Rum (ethnic Anatolian and Ýstanbul Greeks).

    Giragosian thinks that although the prime minister's rhetoric and what
    he calls "aggressive" remarks are not limited to only Armenians --
    such words have been directed at Israelis and the West on different
    platforms -- "He is perceived as a pronounced ally of Azerbaijan and a
    foe of the Armenians, even despite his April 24 statement."

    This was an official statement in which he offered his condolences to
    Armenians for the events of 1915, which the Armenians view as a
    genocide of their people. Erdoðan referred to the period as having
    wrought "inhumane consequences."

    Turkey enjoys good political and economic relations with Azerbaijan,
    its strategic partner. They share common ethnic, cultural and
    linguistic ties. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in conflict for more
    than two decades now, as the two neighboring countries have not been
    able to reach an agreement over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . The
    conflict erupted in the early 1990s over a mountainous enclave within
    Azerbaijan that has a majority Armenian population, and
    Armenian-backed forces seized it and seven surrounding Azerbaijani
    districts. Turkey closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 in a show of
    solidarity with Azerbaijan, which lost 14 percent of its territory
    during the conflict.

    The issue of Armenia's withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven
    adjacent territories is of importance to Ankara, which has frequently
    signaled that the opening of the border with Armenia would be possible
    via the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

    Tense relations between Turkey and Armenia are not just limited to
    closed borders, though. They rest on a century-long conflict due to
    the 1915 events, which are highly disputed for both nations. Turks
    accept that many Armenians died in 1915, but they deny that this
    number is as high as 1.5 million and instead have a death toll of
    about 500,000. Turks say that the events do not constitute an act of
    genocide, a term that is used not only by Armenians world-wide but
    also Western politicians, officials, and historians.

    As Giragosian mentioned, on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the
    1915 events, Prime Minister Erdoðan for the first time in Turkey's
    history offered condolences to the families of the Armenians who went
    through the tragic events of those years. Using conciliatory language,
    Erdoðan called the 1915 event "inhumane," a statement that was not
    accepted by all Armenians unilaterally. Though gently welcomed by
    Turkish Armenians, Erdoðan's words were harshly criticized by the
    Armenian government, with President Serzh Sargsyan accusing Turkey of
    "utter denial" of what Armenia sees as genocide and with the Armenian
    diaspora calling Erdoðan's condolences "cold-hearted and cynical."

    However Alin Ozinian, an expert on Turkish-Armenian relations, said in
    an interview with Sunday's Zaman that Erdoðan's words to the
    Armenians' whose ancestors were killed during World War I is not
    enough, as it does "not reflect that Turkey [has] finally come to
    [its] senses."

    "The issue of genocide is a big wound for the Armenians," Ozinian
    said, adding that Turkey's "denial politics" worries them because it
    will not break the deadlock.

    Delivering Armenians' concerns that Erdoðan will hold too much
    personal and political power without due deference to the rule of law
    or democratic institutions in Turkey, Giragosian says that the rise of
    Prime Minister Erdoðan and the decline of current President Abdullah
    Gül is causing people in Armenia to worry about the future of Turkey.

    President Gül clearly said on Monday that he will not run for a second term.

    "After all, it was President Gül who made history as the first Turkish
    head of state to visit Armenia," Giragosian said, adding that
    Armenians worry the future of Armenian-Turkish normalization might
    suffer because of domestic Turkish politics.

    "With hopes for normalization having rested on President Gül's
    shoulders, his apparent political decline has meant that Armenia has
    lost a 'partner for peace' and a worthy and more sincere interlocutor
    for building a new relationship."

    The normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties started with President Gül
    in September of 2008, when he paid the first-ever visit by a Turkish
    president to Armenia to attend an Armenia vs. Turkey soccer match in
    Yerevan, sparking speculations that "soccer diplomacy" might initiate
    reconciliation between the two hostile nations.

    However, Ozinian disagrees with the assertion that all Armenians are
    annoyed with Erdoðan's run for presidency. She thinks that those who
    are pleased with the prime minister's expected move to president do
    not support Erdoðan because of the condolences he extended back in
    April.

    "Erdoðan's government has yet to be successful in shedding light on
    the cases of Hrant Dink, Sevag Balýkçý [and the] Samatya crimes,"
    Özinian said. She added that those Armenians who are positive about
    Erdoðan's expected transition to president in Turkey feel this way
    because there is no better option amongst the opposition parties,
    which she described as the "Kemalist" Republican People's Party (CHP)
    and the "fearsome" Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

    http://www.todayszaman.com/news-352194-armenians-worry-over-erdogans-probable-presidency.html



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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