- Title: TURKEY-ELECTION/MINORITIES Turkey's minorities stand for elections in Turkey
- Date: 3rd June 2015
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (JUNE 2, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRESIDENT OF ANKARA STRATEGY INSTITUTE, MEHMET OZCAN WORKING ON COMPUTER
- Embargoed: 18th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA8WMT0V83SK1AYWXZNDVUYROWY
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Turkey's long marginalised minority groups are competing in Turkey's parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 7, reflecting changes in a society more open to the rights of minorities.
Armenian, Yazidi and Roma origin candidates managed to secure top spots on the slates, raising hopes for a strong minority representation in parliament.
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) surprised many of its voters by featuring an ethnic Armenian lawmaker, Selina Ozuzun Dogan as a top candidate in Istanbul's second district. Dogan's candidacy has reportedly sparked controversy within the party where many of its executives are vehemently against branding the 1915 killings of Armenians as genocide.
Turkey, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, argues that as many, if not more, Muslims died in the turmoil of a war that destroyed the Ottoman Empire. The modern Turkish Republic was built on its ashes in 1923.
The dispute flared on the 100th anniversary of the 1915 killings when Pope Francis called the massacres a genocide, prompting Turkey to summon the Vatican's envoy and recall its own. Germany and Russia also used the term genocide on April 24, the date in 1915 when it began.
This has angered President Tayyip Erdogan, who implied he could have "deported" the 100,000 Armenian nationals who are currently living in Turkey.
For Selina Ozuzun Dogan, Turkey's first woman candidate of Armenian origin, her bid is an opportunity to restrict hate speech and bolster unity.
"Of course I am an Armenian but I don't want to be.. I don't want to limit myself to Armenians' problems but I want to work for all kind of discrimination and this hate discourse. You know we are talking all the time about this hate discourse but we still don't have the legislation. So I am going to be working for this legislation, for the code of hate discourse," Dogan said.
"Not only Armenians..There are also other candidates from other ethnic origins. We are living in a population that there are hundreds of different ethnic origins so I believe, you know, it will be abnormal, you know, that they are not being represented in the parliament. So I hope it's going to be a good start," she added.
Dogan is not the only Armenian candidate running for parliament on June 7. AK Party and Pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party also featured candidates from Armenian origin.
If elected they will make a comeback in parliament after 51 years.
At a rally in the southeast city of Adiyaman, CHP Leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu stressed he wouldn't manipulate people's faiths to get support.
"I have a character. I don't alienate any of my citizens. I respect their belief. I respect their identity. I respect their lifestyle. I have never exploited anyone's identity for politics and I will never allow that. I have never exploited anyone's life style for politics and I will never allow that. I have never exploited anyone's belief for politics and I will never allow that," repeated Kilicdaroglu to a cheering crowd.
Pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party is betting on newfound appeal beyond its Kurdish base by trying to address all segments of the society.
"We are Turkey's political party. We are the political party of Hakkari province and Edirne province as well as Samsun, Artvin, Rize provinces. Turkey is as colourful, pluralist and multi-cultural as us, HDP. Which political party, except us, can define themselves with these terms?"co-chairman of HDP, Selahattin Demirtas said at a rally in Istanbul on Saturday (May 30).
Apart from representatives of various minority groups, HDP also features the first openly gay candidate to run for Turkish parliament.
Baris Sulu, 37, is running as a candidate in the northwestern city of Eskisehir after campaining for gay rights in Turkey for 17 years.
"When a Turk will defend Kurd's rights, when again a Muslim will defend the rights of an Assyrian (Christian), when a heterosexual will defend gay rights things will change," Sulu said, "(I am talking) as somebody who was thrown out of his house, who had to leave the school and who couldn't get married. I have gone through these ordeals one by one. Now I believe it is hightime that we adopt a discourse in politics."
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey although it remains taboo. Homophobia remains widespread in Turkey, with almost 9 out of 10 people saying they would not like having homosexual neighbours, according to the 2013 World Values Survey.
An analyst on minority rights, President of Ankara Strategy Institute, Mehmet Ozcan credits the candidacy of different groups to the country's political and social progress in terms of widening individual rights.
"There is nothing more ordinary than people of different ethnic and religious background being represented in parliament. What should be discussed is why this was not happening (before). Why the Roma community has not been represented (in parliament) until today? Turks or citizens of Turkish Republic should be discussing that," Ozcan said.
Erdogan, elected president last year with 52 percent after more than a decade as prime minister, wants the AKP to win enough of a majority to change the constitution and hand him executive powers. For that, the AKP would need to win three-fifths of parliament's 550 seats.
The pro-Kurdish HDP could thwart those plans if it crosses the 10 percent threshold needed to enter parliament, potentially even forcing the AKP into coalition. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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