BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
Unfortunately, we can’t have Garo Paylan as president of the Republic of Armenia, he would be just the kind of decency the doctor ordered for the grossly afflicted political-electoral, economic, and perhaps even societal life of the RoA. But for now, let’s set aside the pending parliamentary-presidential election in Yerevan and move to”¦
”¦ Ankara, Turkey, the country he could be the president of, since he is a citizen there, a member of parliament, a leading figure in his political party, and a modest human being.
Paylan is rational, inclusive in his worldview, proud of his heritage and himself (you can see it in the way he carries himself), has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and is fundamentally a good citizen. Most importantly, he is not afraid to speak truth to power, and inspires hope that he would continue his principled ways once in office.
Should he run and in a very unlikely turn of events get elected, he would be the first Armenian in over 110 years (there are rumors that Bloody Sultan Abdul Hameed II was the child of an Armenian in his father’s harem) to hold that type of executive position in the part of the world where Armenians used to be heads of state for centuries on end before the arrival of the Turkic invaders.
Garo Paylan could bring peace, integrity, and international respect to Turkey for the first time in ”¦ EVER. He would be well positioned to implement his party’s (HDP) fairly enlightened policies given ErdoÄŸan’s power grab in the form of constitutional “reform”
