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CDA, PVDA DROP CANDIDATE MPS OVER GENOCIDE DENIAL
NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands
Sept 27 2006
THE HAGUE, 28/09/06 - The Christian democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA)
have withdrawn three candidate MPs for the general election on 22
November. They refuse to explicitly recognise the Armenian genocide.
The CDA decided not to keep Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci on its list
of candidates, on which they were numbers 35 and 56. Erdinc Sacan
was dropped from the PvdA list of candidates, where he was 53rd. The
three candidates were of Turkish origin.
Last week, Tonca and Elmaci made a statement supporting a Lower House
motion dating from 2004. In this motion, the MPs asked the government
to ask Turkey to recognise the genocide as a condition for possible
accession to the EU. The UN recognised in 1985 that Turkey massacred
an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917.
The CDA candidates did not distance themselves as individuals from
statements they had made in the past denying that the genocide ever
happened. An interview in the Turkish newspaper Sabah, in which they
denied the genocide again on Tuesday, was the straw that broke the
camel's back.
Erdinc Sacan's candidature fro PvdA also became impossible. He, too,
originally endorsed the Lower House position, but changed his mind
later, PvdA chairman Michiel van Hulten explained. "Erdinc Sacan is
a talented man aged 27 who is trapped between two cultures and is
unwilling to choose. We regret the necessity of taking this decision."
Sacan is also a provincial councillor in Noord-Brabant, but the
withdrawal only applies to the Lower House, Van Hulten stated. Within
both the CDA and the PvdA, there are other local politicians of
Turkish origin who share the views of Tonca, Elmaci and Sacan.
According to insiders, the views of Nebahat Albayrak are not clear.
She is second on the PvdA list of candidates, after party leader Wouter
Bos. The CDA and PvdA lists of candidates must still be finalised;
this will take place this during party congresses.
NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands
Sept 27 2006
THE HAGUE, 28/09/06 - The Christian democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA)
have withdrawn three candidate MPs for the general election on 22
November. They refuse to explicitly recognise the Armenian genocide.
The CDA decided not to keep Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci on its list
of candidates, on which they were numbers 35 and 56. Erdinc Sacan
was dropped from the PvdA list of candidates, where he was 53rd. The
three candidates were of Turkish origin.
Last week, Tonca and Elmaci made a statement supporting a Lower House
motion dating from 2004. In this motion, the MPs asked the government
to ask Turkey to recognise the genocide as a condition for possible
accession to the EU. The UN recognised in 1985 that Turkey massacred
an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917.
The CDA candidates did not distance themselves as individuals from
statements they had made in the past denying that the genocide ever
happened. An interview in the Turkish newspaper Sabah, in which they
denied the genocide again on Tuesday, was the straw that broke the
camel's back.
Erdinc Sacan's candidature fro PvdA also became impossible. He, too,
originally endorsed the Lower House position, but changed his mind
later, PvdA chairman Michiel van Hulten explained. "Erdinc Sacan is
a talented man aged 27 who is trapped between two cultures and is
unwilling to choose. We regret the necessity of taking this decision."
Sacan is also a provincial councillor in Noord-Brabant, but the
withdrawal only applies to the Lower House, Van Hulten stated. Within
both the CDA and the PvdA, there are other local politicians of
Turkish origin who share the views of Tonca, Elmaci and Sacan.
According to insiders, the views of Nebahat Albayrak are not clear.
She is second on the PvdA list of candidates, after party leader Wouter
Bos. The CDA and PvdA lists of candidates must still be finalised;
this will take place this during party congresses.