Director of the Oriental Studies Institute at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, professor Ruben Safrastyan said that with namaz in Ani, Devlet Bahcelu actually gave a kick-start to election campaign in Turkey.

The upcoming struggle will be rather tough and anti-Armenian, for sure, Safrastyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

“The basic focus will be on problems of national minorities, first of all, on Armenians. The sad experience suggests that each similar pre-electoral campaign leads to stronger persecution of the Armenian community of Istanbul, which has neither rights, nor vote,” Safrastyan said.

Pan-national elections will be held in Turkey in 2011, during which the ruling party – Justice and Development Party (AKP) – hopes for victory, as has been the case since 2002.