Elections Revisited

Did anyone here ever think I wouldn't blog anymore about this year's parliamentary elections in Holland? I did. But guess what? You and me, we're all wrong. The elections were held on November 22, so yes, technically they are over. That doesn't mean that there is a new government in Holland now. Coalition talks are sort of on the way, but I have a feeling that due to the interesting result of the elections, a workable coalition of parties won't be found any time soon. That is something entirely different that I don't feel like writing too much about.

Then this week something happened that is worth mentioning here. It is sideways connected with the "Armenian question" that played a part in the runup to the elections. I covered that extensively here, here and here.

A small recap. After the two biggest Dutch political parties CDA and PvdA removed three candidate-MPs of Turkish descent from their voting lists because they denied the Armenian genocide, a campaign was started by some Turkish groups in Holland to advise Turkish voters to vote for Fatma Koser Kaya, a sitting MP of Turkish descent for D66 and number 6 on their voting list. Despite D66 losing three of their six seats in parliament, Koser Kaya got reelected to parliament with a large amount of "preference votes". In the Dutch voting system, if a candidate doesn't hold an eligible place on the candidacy list, but s/he manages to get enough votes, s/he will be awarded a seat in parliament anyway. This year, the minimum amount of "preference votes" needed to secure a seat in parliament was somewhere around 16,500 (if I remember correctly). Koser Kaya received over 34,000 votes, so she is back in parliament. Apparently, the campaign of the Turkish groups worked. Good for Fatma Koser Kaya. No problem there.

But what turns up this week? An email apparently sent from an email-address within the Turkish Ministry of General Affairs that was sent to Turkish organisations in Holland advising them to vote for Fatma Koser Kaya. The email apparently gives five reasons for the "advise", the most important of them being that D66 hadn't asked Koser Kaya to speak out or take a stand on the Armenian genocide. The email was apparently sent by an advisor of the Turkish Minister of Religious Affairs who also deals with questions connected to Turks living abroad. The person from whose email-address the email was sent, denies everything saying that other people also have access to his computer and email-address. Obviously, Turkish authorities deny any knowledge. How could they do otherwise? Admitting to mingling in another county's internal affairs and trying to influence another country's elections are not the most sophisticated things to do. To say the least...

I wrote earlier that I was kind of disappointed that the issue of potential "double loyalties" of Dutch politicians of Turkish descent and the influence of the Turkish authorities on politicians of Turkish descent who are active in other European countries, didn't get much attention. These latest events might, however, just do the trick and open people's eyes and raise a discussion. However, somehow I think that is too much to ask.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any English texts to link to, but there is some info in Dutch here and here. There are two extensive dossiers on the Armenian issue in the Dutch elections here and here (both in Dutch). My previous posts about the Dutch elections are here, here and here.

Update Dec. 11: I stand corrected on the lack of coverage in English. The Brussels Journal has two informative posts in English on the issue here and here. If you go back further in the archive there might be more about the Dutch parliamentary elections and possibly about the role of the Armenian genocide in it. I didn't check due to lack of time.

Technorati tags: Dutch elections 2006, Fatma Koser Kaya, Holland, Turkey