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Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 21 2015
Armenian opposition voices clutch prospect of being heard in Parliament
Preliminary Armenian candidates for the upcoming general election who
are supported by Nor Zartonk gathered for a press conference on
Wednesday in Ä°stanbul. (Photo: Sunday's Zaman)
March 21, 2015, Saturday/ 17:00:00/ ZEYNEP KARATAÅ? / ISTANBUL
The upcoming general election on June 7 will mark Turkey's 24th
election for members of Parliament, and this year brings exciting
milestones for minority representation in Turkey. On Wednesday, three
more candidates presented their bid for nomination for the upcoming
general election on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)
ticket.
Filor Uluk, Murad Mıhçı and Diren Cevahir Å?en, representatives for the
Nor Zartonk Initiative -- a civil society group representing Turkey's
Armenian community, have now joined Garo Paylan and Nıvart BakırcıoÄ?lu
in the running for positions in Parliament as members of the HDP. In
addition to the HDP candidates, Talin ErgüneÅ? has also announced her
candidacy for nomination on the Republican People's Party (CHP)
ticket.
In a press conference held in Ä°stanbul, it became clear that the three
most recent candidates are capable of presenting issues that matter to
all peoples living in the Turkish Republic, not only the
Turkish-Armenian community. Å?en, for example, began her career as a
lawyer in 2009 and has represented issues of women's rights and
ecological rights. She also provided pro bono support for doctors who
were tried for providing medical care to protesters during the Gezi
Park protests in 2013. In addition to being an active member of the
HDP and Nor Zartonk since both were founded, she also takes part in
the Socialist Feminist Collective.
`Right now there is a party in power that is oppressing people who
have already been oppressed. First of all, the ruling party is not
counting women. That's why in the upcoming elections we find it
important to represent all peoples,' she stated during a press
conference held at the Armenian Culture and Solidarity Association
Center in Ä°stanbul on Wednesday.
Uluk also stressed the importance of representing minority rights in
Turkey with her HDP candidacy, not only to support Kurds and Armenians
but to speak on behalf of all oppressed parties. Uluk was born in 1960
in Samatya, a predominantly Armenian neighborhood of Ä°stanbul.
Throughout the 1990s, she was an active member of organizations
including the People's Labor Party (HEP), the Social Democratic
People's Party (SHP) and the Freedom and Solidarity Party (Ã-DP).
`We are a group living in a society where patriarchy is the model
presented to us. As Armenians, beyond being oppressed, we are the
women whose voices go unheard -- voices of a people that have closed
ourselves off under suppression. We are first represented by our
fathers, then by our husbands after we are married, for the most
part,' stated Uluk at the same conference.
`Granting women [rights] is the first step for a people to be freed,
and a guarantee that cannot be missed. Therefore, it is important that
I take advantage of this historic political moment by representing my
community,' she added.
Armenian representation in Turkey
`Armenians now have a growing voice, and we hope this voice continues
to grow. Parliament is an important place for this voice to
reverberate, these elections will be an important opportunity to be
heard. But this alone is not enough, because [we the] opposition are
also on the streets,' Å?en further commented on Wednesday.
Controversy and pressure continue to build with the approach of the
hotly contested centennial celebrations of the Ottoman Empire's
systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians that began on April
24, 1915. `In short, we believe that this is beyond just the symbolism
of entering Parliament 100 years after the Armenian genocide. We
believe we will be able to share our voices and concerns there,' Å?en
concluded.
Activist and spokesperson for Nor Zartonk, Sayat Tekir also commented
on Wednesday about the historic progress made by members of the
Turkish-Armenian community and how, despite the bitter past,
Armenians' voices are gaining volume, though leaders in power, such as
President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an, still use the term `Armenian' as an
insult.
`We [the Armenian community] have lived through times when we were
referred to as `evil Armenians' and `Armenian dogs' in headlines, as
we were at the end of the 1970s and during the 1980s. Of course we
have been a community that has closed itself off after having lived
through events such as the Sept. 6-7 [pogroms of 1955]. Perhaps the
person who first broke down that door was Hrant Dink with the
publication of Agos.'
Tekir's allusion to the events of Sept. 6-7 is a reference to when
homes and stores belonging to Greeks, Jews and Armenians in the city
were targeted in a pogrom triggered by news, which was later proved to
be false, that the house in Thessaloniki, Greece, where Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk was born in 1881 had been bombed. It was through
Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink that the Armenian community gained a
voice as he published the Agos weekly newspaper in both Turkish and
Armenian.
`While we are able to express ourselves more freely, there are still
people who use the word `Armenian' as an insult. There are still those
who say, `Excuse me, but they called me Armenian.' '
In this comment, Tekir refers to controversial remarks made in August
by President ErdoÄ?an, who was prime minister at the time, when he
said: `You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They
have said I am Georgian. ¦they have said even uglier things -- they
have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish.'
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_armenian-opposition-voices-clutch-prospect-of-being-heard-in-parliament_375893.html
March 21 2015
Armenian opposition voices clutch prospect of being heard in Parliament
Preliminary Armenian candidates for the upcoming general election who
are supported by Nor Zartonk gathered for a press conference on
Wednesday in Ä°stanbul. (Photo: Sunday's Zaman)
March 21, 2015, Saturday/ 17:00:00/ ZEYNEP KARATAÅ? / ISTANBUL
The upcoming general election on June 7 will mark Turkey's 24th
election for members of Parliament, and this year brings exciting
milestones for minority representation in Turkey. On Wednesday, three
more candidates presented their bid for nomination for the upcoming
general election on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)
ticket.
Filor Uluk, Murad Mıhçı and Diren Cevahir Å?en, representatives for the
Nor Zartonk Initiative -- a civil society group representing Turkey's
Armenian community, have now joined Garo Paylan and Nıvart BakırcıoÄ?lu
in the running for positions in Parliament as members of the HDP. In
addition to the HDP candidates, Talin ErgüneÅ? has also announced her
candidacy for nomination on the Republican People's Party (CHP)
ticket.
In a press conference held in Ä°stanbul, it became clear that the three
most recent candidates are capable of presenting issues that matter to
all peoples living in the Turkish Republic, not only the
Turkish-Armenian community. Å?en, for example, began her career as a
lawyer in 2009 and has represented issues of women's rights and
ecological rights. She also provided pro bono support for doctors who
were tried for providing medical care to protesters during the Gezi
Park protests in 2013. In addition to being an active member of the
HDP and Nor Zartonk since both were founded, she also takes part in
the Socialist Feminist Collective.
`Right now there is a party in power that is oppressing people who
have already been oppressed. First of all, the ruling party is not
counting women. That's why in the upcoming elections we find it
important to represent all peoples,' she stated during a press
conference held at the Armenian Culture and Solidarity Association
Center in Ä°stanbul on Wednesday.
Uluk also stressed the importance of representing minority rights in
Turkey with her HDP candidacy, not only to support Kurds and Armenians
but to speak on behalf of all oppressed parties. Uluk was born in 1960
in Samatya, a predominantly Armenian neighborhood of Ä°stanbul.
Throughout the 1990s, she was an active member of organizations
including the People's Labor Party (HEP), the Social Democratic
People's Party (SHP) and the Freedom and Solidarity Party (Ã-DP).
`We are a group living in a society where patriarchy is the model
presented to us. As Armenians, beyond being oppressed, we are the
women whose voices go unheard -- voices of a people that have closed
ourselves off under suppression. We are first represented by our
fathers, then by our husbands after we are married, for the most
part,' stated Uluk at the same conference.
`Granting women [rights] is the first step for a people to be freed,
and a guarantee that cannot be missed. Therefore, it is important that
I take advantage of this historic political moment by representing my
community,' she added.
Armenian representation in Turkey
`Armenians now have a growing voice, and we hope this voice continues
to grow. Parliament is an important place for this voice to
reverberate, these elections will be an important opportunity to be
heard. But this alone is not enough, because [we the] opposition are
also on the streets,' Å?en further commented on Wednesday.
Controversy and pressure continue to build with the approach of the
hotly contested centennial celebrations of the Ottoman Empire's
systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians that began on April
24, 1915. `In short, we believe that this is beyond just the symbolism
of entering Parliament 100 years after the Armenian genocide. We
believe we will be able to share our voices and concerns there,' Å?en
concluded.
Activist and spokesperson for Nor Zartonk, Sayat Tekir also commented
on Wednesday about the historic progress made by members of the
Turkish-Armenian community and how, despite the bitter past,
Armenians' voices are gaining volume, though leaders in power, such as
President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an, still use the term `Armenian' as an
insult.
`We [the Armenian community] have lived through times when we were
referred to as `evil Armenians' and `Armenian dogs' in headlines, as
we were at the end of the 1970s and during the 1980s. Of course we
have been a community that has closed itself off after having lived
through events such as the Sept. 6-7 [pogroms of 1955]. Perhaps the
person who first broke down that door was Hrant Dink with the
publication of Agos.'
Tekir's allusion to the events of Sept. 6-7 is a reference to when
homes and stores belonging to Greeks, Jews and Armenians in the city
were targeted in a pogrom triggered by news, which was later proved to
be false, that the house in Thessaloniki, Greece, where Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk was born in 1881 had been bombed. It was through
Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink that the Armenian community gained a
voice as he published the Agos weekly newspaper in both Turkish and
Armenian.
`While we are able to express ourselves more freely, there are still
people who use the word `Armenian' as an insult. There are still those
who say, `Excuse me, but they called me Armenian.' '
In this comment, Tekir refers to controversial remarks made in August
by President ErdoÄ?an, who was prime minister at the time, when he
said: `You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They
have said I am Georgian. ¦they have said even uglier things -- they
have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish.'
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_armenian-opposition-voices-clutch-prospect-of-being-heard-in-parliament_375893.html