The Sunday elections in Turkey were a regress for the ruling Justice and Development Party, expert of Turkish studies Arestakes Simavoryan told reporters today.
“The voters sent clear messages to Erdogan, making it clear they stand against constitutional changes,” he said.
According to expert of Turkish studies Vahram Ter-Matevosyan, the elections marked a turning point, first of all with regard to the correlation of forces.
“For the first time in history, 95 percent of the Turkish electorate will be represented in the Parliament,” Vahram Ter-Matevosyan said. According to him, the elections can be seen as a “vote of no confidence” on Erdogan’s political objectives, and more than 2 million people voted against Erdogan’s vision of Turkey.
“The elections changed the correlation of forces in the parliament, and on the political field, at large. After a leadership of 13 years, the Justice and Development Party has to take the new realities into consideration and seek ways of cooperation with the opposition.”
The worst scenario for the Armenian-Turkish relations will be a coalition between the Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement. “In this case there will be no shortage of anti-Armenian statement,” he said.
Another expert of Turkish studies Anush Hovhannisyan said the election of three Armenians from three different parties is unprecedented.
“The three MPs will at least try to raise issues concerning the Turkish Armenian community. I think they will actively participate in discussions on the Armenian Genocide, the Turkey-Armenian relations, if there are any in the Parliament,” she said.
Vahram Ter-Matevosyan said the expectations from the three Armenian MPs should be different. He expects more from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and its representative Kato Palyan.
“At this point the HDP is the only force capable of bringing any change in the Armenian-Turkish relations,” he said.
If the Justice and Development Party opts for a minority government, it will not survive long and unwanted developments will be unavoidable.
Experts say it’s clear to everyone that early elections will mean a period of political instability, which will, in turn, lead to great economic shocks.
Turkey should form a government in 45 days.
