Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan stated, that the Referendum on Constitutional Reform in Turkey was accompanied by manifold violations, especially in rural communities: “More religious-minded Turks expressed support for Erdogan, and the Turks of the Kemalist principles opposed. The disruption does not recognize ethnic borders.”
To our question, what problems the victory of “Yes” may cause for the Armenian community in Turkey, the expert answered that the problems of the Armenian community are so many and so deep that they have already reached an extreme degree. “Everything will be connected to a single individual – Erdogan, who openly has a xenophobic attitude and does not hesitate to tell sentiments obviously against Armenians, Greeks and not-Turkish nations. In this case, the problems of the Armenian community will become more and more profound.” According to the Turkologist, 2 from 3 deputies who represent the Armenian community, Garo Paylan and Selina Dogan not only evidently voted against, but also urged the community to vote against: “I can say that the majority of the community tended to say “No”, only some groups of the oligarchy, various power levers, including some religious figures who are under government control, were drawn by “Yes” propaganda.”
Reffering to the Armenian-Turkish relations, Mr. Melkonyan stated the fact that, taking into account Erdogan’s foreign policy of xenophobia, hostility to religious principles, it is not realistic to have positive expectations in such relationships. To the question how the democratic Europe will admit Turkey’s this kind of change, the expert answered: “This new Constitution is contrary to almost all European norms in a number of points. It is particularly an important circumstance that Erdogan and his administration have announced that they will discuss the restoration of the death penalty and have said that if the people demand it, they can restore the death penalty. In this case, it will burn all the bridges that connect Turkey to Europe, the West and various civilized phenomena, as if the death penalty is restored in the country, it will be the final blow that will break off Turkey’s relations with its partners of Western countries.” Let us recall, that there was a Referendum on Constitutional Reforms in Turkey, even though some part of the people were against the reforms, however, the adherents of “Yes” celebrated the victory.
Anush MATEVOSYAN
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