Last week Turkish deputy candidate Erbashar Ozsoy accused PM Rejeb Erdogan of planning to hand Erzrum over to Armenia. According to the Turkish “Haber” agency, Ozsoy claims that on one of the maps of the multi-faceted, cosmopolitan “Great Middle East” plan, which is co-authored by the prime minister, Erzrum is included as part of Armenia. Ozsoy called on the people to pay attention to that and refuse to support the ruling party in order to avoid the collapse of the state. Ozsoy’s speech in Turkey didn’t go unnoticed. It is presupposed that the authorities will make their announcement, and it is not excluded that they will demand an explanation from the political activist. Politician and journalist of the well-known Turkish “Milliyet” newspaper, Sami Koen, believes that Erbashar’s Ozsoy’s accusations are only after one thing – to discredit the ruling “Development and Justice” party chaired by Rejeb Erdogan.
“One would have to be crazy to make that announcement. With this, the deputy candidate is trying to receive the votes of the electorate. I highly doubt that such a way of cheap populism will have any influence on the electorate and get the needed votes. The voters are not that stupid. In fact, I think that this kind of campaign is unproductive for the opposition parties of Turkey,” Sami Koen said to “168 Hours”.
Armenians also heard the PR-campaign of Erbashar Ozsoy and immediately “remembered” that there was a time when Erzrum, which used to be called Karin, is really a part of Armenian history. But nobody in Yerevan took the “revelation of Erdogan’s plans” seriously, except a marginally small group of people. Director of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Ruben Safrastyan, believes that it is evident the talk is nonsensical .
“The People’s Republican Party of Turkey, represented in the Turkish parliament, is standing behind the scandalous information. This is an opposition party that is resisting the ruling “Development and Justice” party.”
The information is based on the fact that Turkish PM Erdogan is one of the supporters of the “Great Middle East” concept and agrees with one of the regional modification plans according to which Erzrum is passed on to Armenia, as registered in one of the maps. I think that the accusations against the Turkish PM are simply an action taken on the threshold of the parliamentary elections in order to weaken the influence of the ruling party in the Eastern parts of Turkey where Erzrum is located,” said Safrastyan to “168 Hours”.
We can add to this that the incentives for the candidate’s announcement become clearer if we take into account that the eastern and north-eastern “vilayets” of Turkey are more backward compared to the other “vilayets”, and that is why Ozsoy’s words may fall on fruitful soil.