ISTANBUL, MAY 17, ARMENPRESS. Only 1 legislator will represent the Turkish-Armenian community which has an estimated population of over 50,000 in the new, 600-seat Turkish parliament after the May 14 polls, in sharp contrast with the previous composition which included 3 Turkish-Armenian MPs from different parties, including the opposition.

The new Turkish-Armenian MP is Sevan Sıvacıoglu, an Orthopedics and Traumatology doctor from Istanbul who ran for parliament from Istanbul 2nd region representing the ruling AK party led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to Yetvart Danzikyan, the Editor-in-Chief of Agos, an Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper, if more MPs had entered parliament the Turkish-Armenians would feel calmer.

“In the past, three Armenian Members of Parliament were elected, but now only one, Sevan Sıvacıoglu. Thus, we have a problem of Armenian [representation]. Sure, you might as well ask, if we were to have four or five MPs, what would change? [Nothing], perhaps, but in that case the Istanbul Armenians would feel calmer. But now that’s not the case,” Danzikyan told ARMENPRESS.

Speaking about the prospects of normalization between Armenia and Turkey, Danzikyan said that the Turkish-Armenians want the two countries to normalize ties, but nevertheless he himself isn’t much of an optimist. 

Danzikyan warned that the nationalistic atmosphere has been growing in the past years in Turkey, and in such conditions “it is difficult to expect a change in the Armenian-Turkish relations.”

“A group came from Armenia (for normalization) after the February earthquake, it was a good chance, which we missed,” the editor-in-chief added.

Sıvacıoglu, 46, is an Orthopedics and Traumatology specialist who has been working at the Acıbadem Maslak hospital since 2018.

Araks Kasyan