Garo Paylan
Garo Paylan 
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|---|---|
| Name in Armenian | Կարօ Փայլան |
| Birthplace | Istanbul |
| Birth date | 1972 |
| Resides in | Turkey |
| Languages | Turkish |
| Ethnicities | Armenian |
| Dialects | Western Armenian |
| Ancestral villages | Malatia |
Ethnic Armenian Member of Parliament in Turkey.
Garo Paylan Introduces Armenian Genocide Resolution in Turkish Parliament
April 24, 2018
ISTANBUL—Armenian Member of the Turkish Parliament Garo Paylan of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) recently introduced a resolution in Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (Parliament), calling for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
The bill which was introduced last week, also seeks to designate April 24—which marks the day in 1915 that the genocide began—as a national day of commemoration.
“Seeking to normalize the Armenian Genocide by tying it to war, making light of it and denying the events are part of the perpetuation of the official thesis… and has led to hate crimes against minorities throughout the republic’s history,” Paylan said in the draft bill, according to a copy obtained by the news outlet Eurasianet.
The proposed bill also calls for the establishment of a commission to investigate who was responsible for the genocide and to remove their names from streets, schools, and other public spaces throughout the country.
The bill also urges that Turkish citizenships be granted to the descendants of Armenian genocide survivors who were forced to leave Turkey.
“After these people were sent into exile in Ayas and Cankiri, the vast majority of them were killed. Among the ones sent into exile and killed were Dr. Nazaret Dagavaryan (Member of Ottoman Parliament), Armen Doryan (writer and journalist), Shavarsh Krisyan (editor of Marmnamarz magazine), Levon Larents (poet), Rupen Sevag (poet), Yenovk Sahen (actor), Siamanto (poet), Hagop Terziyan (writer and pharmacist), Daniel Varujan (poet), Krikor Yesayan (teacher and translator), Rupen Zartarian (writer and poet), Diran Kelekian (writer and Professor of Turkish language) and Krikor Zohrab (writer and Member of Ottoman Parliament),” the draft states.
“For Turkey to become a peaceful society, it needs a democratic and just approach to its collective memory… Recognizing, condemning, and compensating for the crimes committed as Turkey transitioned from an empire to a republic will allow for the construction of a peace-minded memory and, therefore, a society that can live together,” Paylan said in his introduction of the bill.
Paylan is a founding member of the HDP and is a deputy representing the third district in Istanbul. Paylan is also a member of Turkey’s Armenian community and has long been an activist on human rights and Kurdish and Armenian issues.
Prior to being elected to Turkey’s parliament in 2015, Paylan served on the central committee of HDP and also served on the management of Armenian schools in Istanbul. He has long promoted bilingual education and minority rights in Turkey and has been actively engaged in raising awareness on discrimination toward minorities, the rights of the Armenian community in Turkey, Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, and especially the Hrant Dink murder case. Mr. Paylan is from a family originally from Malatya.
Three weeks after his first election into Turkey’s Parliament on the HDP list, Paylan spoke to the Armenian Weekly about his path to parliament and the challenges of being an Armenian in Turkey’s political scene.
Source: https://armenianweekly.com/2018/04/24/paylan-introduces-genocide-resolution-turkish-parliament/
Comments in Parliament about anti-Armenian Racism
Armenian Bastards!
Today's Zaman, Turkey March 3 2016
March 03, 2016, Thursday/ 18:16:00/ GUNAL KURÅ~^UN
Garo Paylan, a member of Parliament of Armenian descent who belongs to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), gave a speech and showed some photos in the Turkish general assembly on Thursday.
The photos showed some of the graffiti that had been daubed on the ruined walls of southeastern villages during the recent curfews. The words "Armenian bastards" can be clearly seen on the photos and the situation has triggered a serious racism debate in Turkey.
Paylan first showed the photos and then stated that the situation is in itself a crime. He said this crime was committed not only by the security forces but also by the prime minister. As you might recall, last week Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Bingöl and said "the Armenian gangs cooperated with the Russians during World War I".
Paylan wisely asked in Parliament whether it would be fair for him to say "Turkish gangs" about the Turks and Kurds who sometimes join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? Lastly, he asked "what kind of racism is it?", drawing a thunderous commotion in Parliament from Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputies.
Let's visualize that our father committed a crime, namely killed our neighbor and buried him in our backyard. We were four years of age, but we saw the situation. Now we are grown up, but the reality, which lies in our sub-conscious, occasionally comes to the conscious surface. I believe that it was such a moment when Paylan showed the pictures yesterday. Being confronted by reality is always painful, but to postpone the confrontation only creates bigger and ongoing mistakes.
We have an unconfronted racism inside us. Whatever we say, it becomes visible at key moments. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will not abide by or respect the decision of the Constitutional Court, Turkey's top court, after it declared on Feb. 25 that the imprisonment of Cumhuriyet daily's Editor-in-Chief Can Dundar and its Ankara representative Erdem Gul for publishing photos on an alleged illegal weapons transfer to Syria was a violation of their basic rights. If the president has no respect for the rule of law, we can not expect any positive developments in the area of democratization.
I send my deepest regards to all Armenians living in Turkey and outside. Although it is not my duty, I apologize for every individual who has suffered. The Armenians living in the diaspora should remember that there are still people living in Turkey who deem themselves allied to law and there are still people who have not lost their conscience. We will not leave our neighbors alone and won't let racism reign over Turkey. The Union and Progress (Ä°ttihad ve Terakki) mentality is still alive in Turkey and its representatives are not giving up. Let me recall that there are more deputies in Parliament to stop this racism and that Paylan also found support from the Republican People's Party (CHP). The most important thing to confront is the reality that has racist backgrounds forcing us to continue the mistakes of the past. The belief in law and conscience is the key to confronting this reality.
Source: Today's Zaman
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Armenian Member Of Turkish Parliament Slams Davutoglu's Anti-Armenian Announcement
16:12, 3 March, 2016
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The latest racist announcement made by Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu has become subject for broad discussions. Garo Paylan, Armenian member of the Turkish parliament from Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) severely criticized the Prime Minister during the discussion of the budgets of the ministries of Interior, Health, Culture and Tourism. "Armenpress" reports the Turkish Demokrathaber.net informed about this.
Paylan showed a photo reading "Armenian dregs". "Unfortunately, it is not only the security forces that do this", he mentioned. The MP reminded Davutoglu's anti-Armenian announcement, where the Prime Minister, criticizing the HDP, had said, "Armenians seek to cooperate with the Russians like gangs. Today Turks cooperate with the "Islamic State" and if I say Turkish gangs, it will be a racist announcement.
Mr. Prime Minister openly made a racist announcement", Paylan mentioned.
In respond to Paylan's statement, head of the ruling "Justice and Development" party faction Naci Bostancı stood for Davutoglu saying that in "in fact Paylan himself makes a hate speech"
Source: Armenpress
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Erdogan’s Thugs in Parliament Beat up Armenian & Kurdish MPs
By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
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In recent days, AKP Parliamentarians have hurled insults and physically assaulted Garo Paylan (an Armenian) and Ferhat Encu (a Kurd) who represent the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Parliament.
Paylan delivered an unprecedented speech in the Turkish Parliament on April 21, 2016. After greeting the deputies in Armenian, by saying “Parev tsez,” he boldly continued: “Once World War One began on April 24, 1915, Armenian intellectuals, opinion leaders and parliamentarians were, unfortunately, the first to be arrested…. Although they had immunity, they were arrested and taken to Ankara, Ayash, Urfa and Diyarbekir, and on the way, the deputies were murdered by bandits. Of course, after the community’s opinion leaders and MPs were made powerless, and their claims to solve issues through democratic processes became redundant, the Armenian and Assyrian peoples suffered great massacres by decree and were evicted from the ancient lands where they had lived for thousands of years.”
Paylan dared to raise the shameful legacy of the Armenian Genocide which persists to this day in Turkey: “Look at the names of Talat Pasha, Jemal Pasha, and Enver Pasha. In 2,500 places in the country, streets were named after them. Today, unfortunately, we walk in streets named Talat Pasha. Can you imagine going to Germany and Berlin today and walking in streets named after Hitler and Goebbels? Would such a thing be acceptable? Well, in 2,500 places in our country, we walk in streets and avenues named Talat Pasha.”
During his remarks, Paylan recited the names and displayed enlarged photographs of several Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament, including Krikor Zohrab, who were arrested on April 24, 1915, and brutally murdered. The Armenian MP fearlessly proposed that a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate the circumstances of their deaths, identify those responsible for their murders -- those who ordered their killings and actually carried them out -- locate where their bodies were buried, rebury them with appropriate funeral services, and restore their dignity. Not surprisingly, Paylan’s proposal was rejected by the majority of Parliament.
After expressing his respect for the memory of the perished Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament in 1915, Paylan concluded his speech with traditional Armenian words of condolences for the departed: “Asdvads irents hokin lousavore” (May God enlighten their souls). Throughout his lengthy and courageous remarks, Paylan was repeatedly interrupted by taunts and threats from AKP MPs.
On May 2nd, as a parliamentary committee met to strip opposition members of their immunity from prosecution, Paylan was kicked and punched over 100 times by Erdogan’s AKP members during a 10-minute all-out brawl. Paylan described the assault as “a premeditated lynching because of his Armenian heritage.”
After the attack, when HDP members walked out of the hearing, the committee voted to approve the AKP proposal to lift the immunity of pro-Kurdish HDP MPs. This inflammatory measure is expected to be approved by Parliament shortly! Most Kurdish members along with Paylan will then be arrested on trumped-up charges. Most probably Erdogan plans to announce new parliamentary elections, hoping the AKP will win additional seats vacated by the HDP, giving him enough votes in Parliament to amend the Constitution and establish a powerful autocratic presidential regime.
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Source: California Courier