Islamisized Armenians in Turkey to found a party

PanARMENIAN.Net - Historical communities of Islamisized (Hamshen) Armenians, who live on the Black Sea coast in northeastern Turkey, are getting ready to found a new political party, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

The party’s founder, İsmet Şahin, is a former deputy candidate from Istanbul’s second region who ran on the ranks of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, until he was left out of the candidate list. The new party’s name will be publicly announced following the general elections on June 12. Şahin also served in BDP’s ranks in previous elections.

A total of seven Turkish-Armenians ran for seats in the parliament with the AKP, the CHP and the BDP, but all of them were left off the candidate list.

“It would have been naive to expect positive results. The AKP still uses the Armenian identity as a form of curse in tete-a-tete debates,” said Şahin, who accused the ruling AKP and the main opposition CHP of nationalism, and then added that the Armenian community of Istanbul is still an inconsequential factor in Turkey’s political and social structure.

“The presence of even a single Armenian deputy in parliament would remind Turkey of its history; it would force Turkey to face up to its own history. Turkey does not have the courage to face up to its history,” said Şahin.