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Assyrian International News Agency AINA
April 11 2015
Turkey's Minorities Join Race for Parliament
By Fehim Tastekin
AL Monitor
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy
Party, addresses his party members as he starts his campaign for
Turkey's June 7 parliamentary elections, during a meeting in Ankara,
April 10, 2015 (REUTERS/Umit Bektas).Turkey's political parties
announced their ambitious candidate lists this week for the June 7
general elections, which will deliver a fateful verdict on President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions to install a presidential system. In
a remarkable development, the parties have opened up to minority
groups, which have been largely sidelined from politics, excluding the
early years of the modern republic. Members of the Greek, Armenian,
Yazidi and Roma communities have been given favorable spots on the
slates, raising the prospect of strong minority representation in the
next parliament.
The pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP), on a quest to become a
nationwide party appealing to voters beyond its traditional Kurdish
base, has fielded three Armenian candidates -- Garo (Karabet) Paylan,
Murad Mihci and Filor Uluk Benli -- in addition to two Yazidis, Ali
Atalan and Feleknaz Uca, and the Syriac Erol Dora. The list of the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) features Armenian
journalist Markar Esayan.
The biggest surprise came from the main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP), where an in-house struggle is underway between
neo-nationalist and reformist wings. The party fielded ethnic Armenian
lawyer Selina Ozuzun Dogan as its top candidate in Istanbul's 2nd
District, a move that sparked controversy within the CHP, where the
camp denying the Armenian genocide holds the upper hand. CHP Chairman
Kemal Kilicdaroglu reportedly had to make a choice between Dogan and
Goksel Gulbey, head of the Association for Struggle Against False
Armenian Claims, which has been at the forefront of genocide denial
campaigns. Convinced that fielding both would be a contradiction, the
CHP leader favored Dogan over Gulbey, who had applied to run in the
eastern province of Igdir.
http://www.aina.org/news/20150410202104.htm
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
April 11 2015
Turkey's Minorities Join Race for Parliament
By Fehim Tastekin
AL Monitor
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy
Party, addresses his party members as he starts his campaign for
Turkey's June 7 parliamentary elections, during a meeting in Ankara,
April 10, 2015 (REUTERS/Umit Bektas).Turkey's political parties
announced their ambitious candidate lists this week for the June 7
general elections, which will deliver a fateful verdict on President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions to install a presidential system. In
a remarkable development, the parties have opened up to minority
groups, which have been largely sidelined from politics, excluding the
early years of the modern republic. Members of the Greek, Armenian,
Yazidi and Roma communities have been given favorable spots on the
slates, raising the prospect of strong minority representation in the
next parliament.
The pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP), on a quest to become a
nationwide party appealing to voters beyond its traditional Kurdish
base, has fielded three Armenian candidates -- Garo (Karabet) Paylan,
Murad Mihci and Filor Uluk Benli -- in addition to two Yazidis, Ali
Atalan and Feleknaz Uca, and the Syriac Erol Dora. The list of the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) features Armenian
journalist Markar Esayan.
The biggest surprise came from the main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP), where an in-house struggle is underway between
neo-nationalist and reformist wings. The party fielded ethnic Armenian
lawyer Selina Ozuzun Dogan as its top candidate in Istanbul's 2nd
District, a move that sparked controversy within the CHP, where the
camp denying the Armenian genocide holds the upper hand. CHP Chairman
Kemal Kilicdaroglu reportedly had to make a choice between Dogan and
Goksel Gulbey, head of the Association for Struggle Against False
Armenian Claims, which has been at the forefront of genocide denial
campaigns. Convinced that fielding both would be a contradiction, the
CHP leader favored Dogan over Gulbey, who had applied to run in the
eastern province of Igdir.
http://www.aina.org/news/20150410202104.htm
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress