Associate Professor Tanju Tosun, faculty at the 9 Eylül University, criticized Canan Arıtman, Izmir deputy for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), regarding her comments about President Abdullah Gül’s mother’s ethnicity. He described these comments as reflection of the “either love it or leave it” mentality.

Tosun, who is known for his studies on the People’s Republican Party (CHP), said the following to bianet:

“Some elected political elites in Turkey are not ready to living together and they do not have a problem with this. They are still seeing a society that is ethnic, religious, and even homogenous class-wise. When we look at it from this perspective, it seems that these elites in Turkey do not have values about tolerance and living together.”

According to Tosun, the CHP needs to apologize to the Armenian citizens for Arıtman’s comments.

Detective work on origins

“One cannot do politics by doing detective work on origins. Arıtman’s unfortunate explanation shows that the politicians have identity perceptions that are pre-modern.”

President Gül will take legal action

CHP deputy Arıtman had implied that President Gül’s mother was Armenian, when the President had made the comment about the campaign to apologize to the Armenians that being able to discuss every opinion is the policy of the state.

After the comments to her statements about the President, Arıtman said, “When some people agree with or support the claim that we committed the crime of genocide against the Armenians, the other would ask them if they were Armenians. They would ask this question even if that person is a president.”

The President announced that he was sorry about Arıtman’s comments and he was planning to take legal action against her. (BÇ/EK)