The June 7 general election has brought Armenian, Assyrian, Mhallami and Ezidi members into parliament. Meet the minority representatives in this colourful parliament.
New CHP İzmir 1st electoral constituency Member of Parliament Özcan Purçu is the first Roma representative in the history of the Republic. Purçu has since 2005 been the Turkey representative of the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF), a partner organization of the Council of Europe. Purçu is also a board member of the Turkey Roma Rights Forum (ROMFO) and is one of the few members of the community who speaks the Romani language fluently.
Mhallami Member of Parliament
The Mhallami community, which has a population of 800 thousand, will also be represented in parliament. Mehmet Ali Aslan, founder of the first Mhallami association in Turkey, and a 4th place candidate for the HDP in Mardin has become a member of parliament. The HDP’s 3rd place candidate from Mardin, and an independent member of parliament in the previous term, Assyrian lawyer Erol Dora has also entered parliament for another term.
All three Armenian candidates win
HDP won 11 places in Istanbul, and its 3rd constituency 2nd place candidate Garo Paylan became one of the three new Armenian members of parliament. The CHP’s Selina Özuzun Doğan and the AKP’s Markar Esayan have also won places in parliament, meaning that for the first time in 54 years there will be Armenian MPs in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
Two Ezidi MPs
Former Member of European Parliament from Germany, HDP Diyarbakır 4th place Ezidi candidate Feleknas Uca has become an MP from the city that is sending 10 HDP MPs to Ankara. Another new Ezidi MP is Ali Atalan, Co-Chair of the European Ezidi Associations Federation, the 1st place candidate of the HDP from Batman. This is also the first time Ezidi Members of Parliament have been elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
