7 Armenian candidates seeking parliamentary deputy posts in Turkey.
Turkish parties offer deputy nominations to Armenian leaders.
“Seven members of Istanbul’s Armenian community are seeking parliamentary deputy posts, holding out the promise that the June general elections may see the group represented in Parliament for the first time in five decades.”
According to the source, six have been offered nominations by political parties, while one is likely to join the chase as an independent deputy nominee.
“I am an Armenian, but I am also a part of the whole. If I join Parliament, of course I will bring my community’s problems to the fore. But I would like to represent the whole [country] as well,” Arev Cebeci, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP said.
According to Cebeci, the Armenian community in Turkey has typically shied away from politics due to painful events in its past. “We have always been scared by our families,” he said. “They did not want us to be at the forefront. We have always led low-profile lives.”
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