“If the government remains in the hands of “Justice and Development Party” (JDP), there will be no significant changes, however, if the opposition, who are Nationalist, win in 2015 election, the condition of the Armenian community will return to 90’s, sadder than today”, – said turkologist Artak Shakaryan, in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the upcoming elections in Turkey in 2014. The local government elections will be held on March, followed by presidential elections on August, and parliamentary elections will be held in 2015. In fact, this year, Turkey is going to hold the first presidential elections. Before that, the parliament was appointing the president. As said by Mr. Shakaryan, in recent years, the Armenian community has steadily voted for the JDP’s favor as it had comparatively made more tolerant moves, however, he does not rule out the opposite. “These days it’s very possible that to counterbalance Erdoğan, the Armenian community, for example, votes for the opposition candidate in Istanbul election. Alternatively, unbalanced Erdoğan is making many illogical moves.”
Mr. Shakaryan believes that there is no alternative for JDP in the elections, because the other operating parties do not represent great strength. “According to the Turkish Constitution, Article 101, the Turkish President shall resign from his party affiliations. Erdoğan is planning to become a president, and, in the case, Gül will be the prime candidate of the JDP’s leader, because Erdoğan has not yet prepared a successor to him.” To our question of what impact the upcoming elections in Turkey can have on Armenia-Turkey relations, Mr. Shakaryan believes that essentially, nothing. “Armenia-Turkey relations are dependent on Ankara’s strategic interests, and not the personalities. But, in any case, of course, if for a wonder Republican People’s party comes to power in 2015 parliamentary elections, naturally, Turkey would take the most salient pro-Azerbaijani and anti-Armenian policy.”
Ami Chichakyan