Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party has not nominated any candidate to run in the local self-government elections in the bordering Kars and Igdir provinces of Armenia and will endorse the Nationalist Movement Party’s candidate.

According to the Turkish Gazeteduvar website, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has demanded that Erdogan deliver the bordering states of Armenia to nationalist forces in order not to give the pro-Armenian Kurdish political party any chances to win in the elections.

It is stated that in this context, the nationalist Good Party and the ruling Justice and Development Party will endorse the candidate of the Nationalist Movement Party in Igdir.

The ruling party also hasn’t nominated any candidate in Kars and will endorse the Nationalist Movement Party’s candidate.

For the past decade, the candidates of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Nations have been elected mayor of Igdir, and this has strictly concerned Azerbaijan and the Turkish authorities. Azerbaijanis make up almost 50% of the population of Igdir. The current mayor of Kars is a member of the Nationalist Movement Party, but citizens of Kars are very discontent with the mayor and there is a real danger that the political party will lose, and this is why Erdogan has agreed not to nominate a candidate so that the Kurds don’t win.

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