ArmInfo.At the upcoming municipal and later parliamentary elections in Turkey this year, Turkish Armenians living mainly in Istanbul may turn away from Erdogan's party, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Turkologist, Academician Ruben Safrastyan expressed such an opinion to ArmInfo.
Elections to local governments will be held in Turkey on March 31. 13 political forces will run in them. Parliamentary elections are scheduled in the country this fall. About 70 thousand Armenians live in Turkey, mainly in Istanbul.
"Traditionally, the voices of our compatriots are distributed between the party of incumbent President Recep Erdogan Justice and Development (AKP) and the Kemalist Republican People's Party (CHP). However, given that this time AKP, apparently, will again run for election in coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party, the Armenians most likely will not vote for Pan-Turkists, "he stressed.
At the same time, according to the expert's forecasts, the municipal elections themselves will not bring any special surprises to the AKP, their results in favor of the ruling party are quite predictable. Moreover, in all likelihood, it is theses elections that will lay the foundation for long-term trends towards parliamentary elections this fall. At the same time, according to his forecasts, if in Istanbul the election results are predetermined in favor of AKP candidate Binali Y?ld?r?m, in Ankara the ruling coalition and the Republican People's Party- the Good Party will compete toughly. In the regions populated by Kurds, most likely, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples Party will once again win, whose representatives will again occupy the seats in the local executive authorities.