Eduard Sharmazanov: Erdogan's failure in parliamentary elections in Turkey may trigger changes in Armenian-Turkish relations

 The parliamentary elections in Turkey have marked the beginning of a new game, but it is early to forecast the results. In the meantime, it is doubtless that essential changes will happen in Ankara's political course given that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has lost its monopoly in decision-making, Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, has told ArmInfo.       

He says that the Turkish society voted against Erdogan's political course rather than for something. "This is also proved by the unprecedented success of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party, whose views are different from the ruling party's views in almost all topical matters, including the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Armenian Genocide," says Sharmazanov.  

He also predicts certain a force majeure in formation of the government, because the ruling party that has failed to receive an absolute majority, should form a coalition with one of the forces, but at the moment none of the parties agrees to enter into a coalition with the AKP. "This may trigger new parliamentary elections. In that case, the ruling party might even fail to retain its current 40%. But even if the situation remains the same, Ankara's policy will undergo considerable changes because Erdogan will no longer be able to promote his programs unequivocally. This may contribute to stabilization of the situation in the Middle East and to the progress in the Armenian-Turkish normalization. The other forces in the Turkish Parliament do not display such an anti-Armenian hysteria," says Sharmazanov. He also points out that the elections have probably marked the beginning of the end of Erdogan's political course. 

According to the results of the parliamentary elections in Turkey, the AKP received 40.80 percent of Sunday's votes (256 seats in the 550-seat Parliament), while the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) scored 25.20 percent (133 seats). The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) secured 16.50 percent of the votes (83 seats), while the country's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) won 12.90 percent (78 seats). They all crossed the 10 percent electoral threshold that affected the distribution of seats in the Grand National Assembly. The turnout was 84%. Erdogan had campaigned to write a new constitution to bolster the powers of the country's presidential office. The AKP needed at least 330 seats to unilaterally initiate such a change and take it to a referendum. If the party managed to get 367 seats in the Parliament, it would be able to approve the amendments to the Constitution by means of simple voting, without any referendum