Garen YegparianBY GAREN YEGPARIAN
Since April 24, we’ve had a lot of chatter about what’s next for us. But after last weekend’s momentous election in Turkey, that genocidal state confronts the same question, and with more complexity, to boot!
Where we simply have to clarify what aspects of our struggle to focus on, Turkey has multiple, complicating factors, internal and external, to consider as it now chooses its path.
Christian and non-Turkish minorities (Alevi, Armenian, Assyrian, Kurd, Roma [Gypsy], Yezidi) have been elected to parliament in unprecedented numbers, unseen, really, since Ottoman times, and they are associated with multiple political parties. For Armenians, it has been 54 years since we had a representative in the Buyuk Milli Meclis (Grand National Assembly as parliament is called in Turkey).
An authoritarian leader, President ErdoÄŸan, still in office, has, for now, been reined in. His hope to rule with an iron fist after changing the constitution has been checked by the loss of the parliamentary majority of his AK party.
For the first time in 16 years, a coalition government will have to be formed. This used to be common in Turkey, except for when the generals (pashas) would foist a coup on the country (four times over the course of four decades). But now, there’s a very different crop of parliamentarians in office, how will they handle this?
There is the possibility of no coalition coalescing, leading to new elections. Or, some other parliamentary arrangement that leads to snap elections in the not-too-distant future.
The corruption in government has persisted through the rule of multiple parties.
Garo Paylan, one of the Armenians elected to parliament has already said he will fight Genocide denial in his new position. He has even stated Armenians should focus their efforts on Turkey, not other countries, specifically citing the ARF (Tashnagtzootiun).
Many politically progressive Turks have been extending hands of cooperation, arguing that a democratic Turkey would lead to all our problems’ resolution.
The “Kurdish problemâ€
