VIDEO: Turkey's Newly Elected Parliament Will Have Only One Armenian MP

According to the results of Turkey's parliamentary elections, the new composition of the parliament will include only one Armenian MP—Dr. Sevan Sıvacıoğlu from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). This was stated by Edward Tanzikyan, the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper Agos, in an interview with Armenpress.

He noted that in the 2015 parliamentary elections, three Armenian MPs were elected: one from the ruling AKP, one from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and one from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

“At that time, three Armenian MPs were elected, but now there is only one—Sevan Sıvacıoğlu. Therefore, we are facing a problem regarding Armenian representation. Of course, you might say, what difference does it make if we have five MPs? Yes, that’s true, but if there are three, four, or five Armenian MPs, the Armenians in Istanbul would feel more at ease. But that is not the case now,” Tanzikyan said.

Discussing the prospects for normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, he pointed out that as Turkish Armenians, they naturally wish for these relations to be normalized, for the border to open, and for dialogue between Armenia and Turkey to take place. Nevertheless, he is not very optimistic about this issue, according to the editor-in-chief of Agos.

For more details, watch the video.