By Artur Hakobyan

ANKARA. – Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) member Cemil Cicek was reelected Grand National Assembly (parliament) Speaker.   

But it was solely during the third-round of voting that Cicek was reelected to this post, Hurriyet daily of Turkey reports.  

To note, Cemil Cicek is known for his anti-Armenian stance. He was Turkey’s justice minister when a lawsuit was filed against Hrant Dink—the founder and chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian bilingual weekly, who was gunned down in 2007 in front of his office building—under the Turkish Criminal Code’s infamous Article 301, that is, for explicitly insulting the Turkish identity.   

Also, Cicek had expressed his fear of the Armenians in 2009. As a result of the local government elections in that year, a Kurd was elected mayor of Igdir city—which borders Armenia—for the first time after the rule of Azerbaijani mayors in this city for 85 consecutive years. In this respect, Cemil Cicek had said: “The Kurds have established at the border with Armenia.”