Turkey: Only two religious minority candidates likely to win in parliamentary race

While several members of diverse religious minority communities were nominated for the parliament on Sunday by different parties in Turkey, only two seem likely to be elected in the elections on 14 May.

Garo Paylan, deputy for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a member of the Armenian community, was not renominated because of the party's two term restriction.

Edip Arslan, a member of the Assyrian community, will run in Istanbul as a candidate for HDP, but he does not have much chance of being elected since he is ranked 10th among HDP candidates in an Istanbul constituency where the party won five seats in the 2018 elections.

Another Assyrian candidate for HDP, George Arslan, will run in Mardin, where he has a good chance of getting elected. He is ranked fourth among HDP candidates in the Kurdish-majority province, where HDP won four seats five years earlier.

Sevan Sivacioglu, an Armenian candidate for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul, also has a good chance of entering the Turkish Grand National Assembly as he is ranked ninth among AKP candidates in a constituency where the party previously won 13 seats in 2018.

Margarit Dikme, Armenian candidate for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) in Istanbul, will need a miracle to get elected, because she is ranked 23rd among CHP candidates in a constituency where CHP previously got nine seats.

Others who are not likely to enter the parliament are Greek candidate Foti Benlisoy and Armenian candidate Masis Kurkcugil, both running for the Workers Party of Turkey (TIP) in Istanbul.

Benlisoy, who is the writer of several books including one on the turmoil in the Greek army during the Greco-Turkish War (English translation of the book's title: "Heroes, Victims and Elements of Resistance / Propaganda, Strike and Uprising in the Greek Army in Thrace and Anatolia in 1919-1923), is ranked 14th among TIP candidates in a constituency where the party will try, for the first time, to win one or more seats.

Kurkcugil, also a writer of many books including "Bir Baska Tarih Mumkun muydu? / Ermeni Meselesi Uzerine Yazilar" ("Was a Different History Possible? / Writings on the Armenian Question"), is ranked 13th among TIP candidates in another Istanbul constituency.