Armenian to serve in Turkish govt
ANKARA – An ethnic Armenian will serve in the Turkish government for the first time in the country’s history, Turkey's chief European Union negotiator Egemen Bagis was quoted as saying.
Bagis said that after "two years of waiting", Turkey’s state council has passed a decision allowing Leo Suren Halepli, 30, to work for Turkish government agencies, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
So far, ethnic Armenian and Greek citizens of Turkey have not been allowed to hold government or military posts.
In 2009 Halepli passed all the tests required to work for the Turkish Secretariat-General for EU Affairs (ABGS) as an EU specialist. However, a court in Ankara upheld a plea by another nominee for the post who challenged the test scores, revoking them and scheduling new tests. Further, the EU secretariat appealed the court ruling to the Turkish state council, and the decision was overturned.
Turkey and Armenia have been at odds for decades and their shared border has been shut since 1993 due to Armenia’s occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, and Armenian claims on 1915 "genocide".
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