Turkey’s ruling party is competing with Kemalists for the votes of Alevi electors, expert from Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies Sotiris Roussos.

According to him, competition between ruling Justice and Development party and Republican People’s Party urged Erdogan to apologize for Kurdish massacres in Dersim.

The majority of victims were Alevs. Presently the province is one of the centers of Alevis and the only province in Turkey with Alawi majority.

“There is no such competition over either the Greek or the Armenian genocide. So I would not expect similar gestures,” he said.

As for the Turkish-Greek and particularly Turkish-Cypriot relations, the expert said he cannot unfortunately see any positive influence from Erdogan’s apology over Dersim.

“These issues and especially Cyprus are part of the core of Turkish strategic planning, and thus difficult to be influenced by such events,” Roussos added.