The mayor of Bolu, from Türkiye’s main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is facing widespread backlash over a racist social media post targeting the Armenian community.
Turkish Armenian Patriarch Sahak II Mashalian on Monday condemned Tanju Özcan, CHP’s mayor for northern Bolu province, for his post on X, which included profanity regarding Armenians while wishing death on the terrorist group PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan.
While the CHP has not addressed the mayor’s post in any way, the Turkish-Armenian community was outraged.
In a written statement, Mashalian stressed that Armenians, “a deep-rooted and inseparable part of this country, continue to exist with the same determination of having made vital cultural, economic and social contributions to these lands.”
“Mayor Özcan’s hate speech targeting the Armenian identity blatantly targets not just a people but our shared past and willingness to live side by side,” Mashalian said.
He warned that the legitimization of hate speech and the overlooking of discriminatory statements threatening public peace “can never be tolerated.”
Calling on the authorities and the public to use a “more responsible language,” Mashalian said the patriarchate condemned “in the strongest terms any discriminatory and exclusionary language targeting the Armenian community or any other nation or race.”
Özcan is notorious for his racist policies targeting Armenians, Syrian refugees and migrants. In January, authorities launched an investigation over his remarks regarding Syrian refugees in an interview with a YouTube journalist where he confessed to refusing municipal aid to refugees despite it being against the law.
Özcan already underwent an investigation in 2021 for his decision to charge foreign nationals astronomical water bills “so that they will be forced to leave.” His sexist remarks bordering sexual harassment toward a municipal assembly member have also drawn ire.