MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN TURKEY
By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul

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30 March 2009

The EU charges that minorities in Turkey are still persecuted. But they
are growing more politically active with numerous minority candidates
on the ballot for this weekend’s municipal elections. The country
may even get its first Jewish mayor.

It may be the quietest voting district in Istanbul — no smog, no
traffic jams, no police sirens. On the Princes’ Islands, in the Sea
of Marmara, only horse-drawn carriages are allowed, and those only for
tourists. But in the winter even the tourists remain on the mainland,
since the weather on the sea is ice-cold. Heavy rain whips over the
ferry terminal on Buyukada, the largest of the nine islands.

Yusuf Bahar, 37, businessman and politician, steps out of his
speedboat. The friendly, somewhat shy-seeming islander has just given
a radio interview in hectic downtown Istanbul. Now he wants to see
the citizens in his voting district — he wants to visit tea houses,
shake hands and give out brochures.

Most people here know Bahar already. But Turkey’s national media has
noticed him recently, too — and not just because he has a decent
chance this Sunday of becoming mayor of the Princes’ Islands, as
a candidate for the Democratic Party (DP). He also happens to be
Jewish. A non-Muslim mayor would be new in Turkish history. "I would
be the first," he says.

But he doesn’t like to emphasize his background. His local religious
community has promised to mention his Judaism only when asked about
it. "My name sounds Turkish, I look Turkish, I feel Turkish," he
says. "My people have been here for 500 years."

Three (Official) Minorities

Around 20,000 Jews now live on the Bosporus, and long experience has
made them cautious. They make up one of three officially-recognized
minorities in Turkey — alongside 60,000 Armenians and 2,500
Greeks. The status of "minority" brings certain privileges, like the
right of a given group to set up its own schools and places of worship.

But they still experience discrimination. "After the Republic of
Turkey was founded (in 1923), a non-Muslim was barred from even the
least important government job," said Ayhan Aktar, at Istanbul’s
Bilgi University. The reason, he added, was official fear of ethnic
diversity. A "true" Turk was a Sunni Muslim who swore allegiance
to "Turkishness." Non-Muslims tried not to draw attention to
themselves. For decades they simply ducked out of the way.

Progress can be hard to notice. The latest report on Turkey by the
European Union mentions "persistent hostility and violence against
minorities." But minorities seem to be finding their political feet. In
nationwide municipal elections on March 29 some 30 representatives of
Turkish minorities are running for mayoral or city council seats —
more than ever before.

One of them is Karun Kovan, an Armenian dentist. He’s campaigning in
the Princes’ Islands, too — but for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s Islamic, conservative Justice and Development Party
(AKP). "My friends were at a loss when I told them about my decision,"
he said. "But wasn’t it the so-called Islamists who first stood up
for minority rights? And why should I vote for Kemalists (the secular
Turkish party), when ‘Armenian’ is like a bad word to them?"

Kovan and many other Turkish Armenians voted for Erdogan in the last
election, because they believed he would lead the country into the
EU. Etyen Mahcupyan, publisher of the Turkish-Armenian weekly magazine
Agos, recently endorsed the AKP again, for the same reason.

‘Unspeakably Racist’

But they have little choice. They would hardly vote for the largest
opposition party. During the last election, a parliamentarian from
the Kemalist Republican People’s Party (CHP) named Canan Aritman
tried to smear President Abdullah Gul by saying he was the son of an
Armenian mother.

When Gul protested that all his ancestors were Turkish Muslims,
Aritman demanded DNA evidence. "Unspeakably racist," is how the
Armenian writer Raffi Hermonn described the demand — though it didn’t
stop him from joining the CHP himself, and running for city council.

Hermonn, 42, is a large man with stubble and a ponytail. He’s one of
the freest-thinking members of his district. He has his own explanation
for the new visibility of minorities in Turkish public life. "The old
Armenian bourgeoisie doesn’t exist anymore," he says. "We aren’t a
threat to the Turkish state, so now it can flirt with us. Armenians
in politics — that’s good, isn’t it?"

He joined the CHP because he believes their candidate for mayor of
Istanbul is one of the party’s few liberals. He also thinks the ruling
AKP needs competition after seven years in power.

Yusuf Bahar, the man from the Princes’ Islands, feels the same
way. When it comes to his own political future, at least, he sees
Barack Obama as a role model. "Turks should be proud when someone
with a minority background can succeed here," he says. "That would
be a true test of the democratic process in our country."
From: Baghdasarian