Margaret Yesayan, Armenian Member of Turkish Parliament, Dies at 51

The press secretary of the Turkish President, İbrahim Kalın, announced on Twitter that Margaret Yesayan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament from the ruling Justice and Development Party, has passed away.

Turkish media reports that the 51-year-old former journalist and sitting member of parliament had been undergoing treatment for cancer for an extended period.

Yesayan was born on February 11, 1969, in Istanbul. He studied at the Central School and later at Istanbul Bilgi University. From 1997 to 2008, he contributed articles to the Agos weekly and since 2008, he maintained a personal column in the Turkish newspaper Taraf. He also worked as a journalist for the Yeni Şafak periodical.

On June 24, 2018, Yesayan was nominated as a parliamentary candidate from Istanbul's 2nd electoral district by the ruling Justice and Development Party and became a member of parliament.