Garo Paylan on Turkey's Elections

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has formed an alliance with nationalists and extremists, managed to win the elections on May 14 and will have a parliamentary majority. This means that Turkey will become more nationalist in the near future, and a nationalist Turkey will find it more difficult to normalize relations with Armenia. This opinion was expressed by Garo Paylan, a member of Turkey's 27th Parliament, in an interview with an Armenpress correspondent.

“We must spare no effort in convincing Turkey to establish peace with Armenia,” he noted.

According to Paylan, it is important for democracy to develop in Turkey since “only a democratic country can solve its problems with neighbors.”

The parliamentarian notes that the results of the recent elections did not meet the expectations of the Armenian community in Istanbul. “Armenians in Turkey are already in fear. Until 2015, we spoke about our problems, but since then, Armenians have become quieter. We hoped that something would change as a result of these elections, but it did not. Unfortunately, Armenians will be even quieter during this period,” Paylan stated.

In the parliamentary elections held in Turkey on May 14, Erdoğan's People's Alliance received 49.46 percent of the vote, which means they will have 322 seats in the parliament. His main opposition, the National Alliance, received 35.02 percent of the vote and will have 213 parliamentary seats.

No candidate in the presidential elections managed to collect more than 50 percent of the votes: Erdoğan received 49.5 percent, while his main opponent, Republican Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, received 44.8 percent. This implies that there will be a second round of presidential elections on May 28, where the candidate with the most votes will win.