Turkish-Armenian parliamentarian Garo Paylan from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) has announced that he has submitted a legislative proposal for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 via an e-mail sent to the press.
Garo Paylan calls on Turkish parliament to recognize the Armenian Genocide
STEPANAKERT, APRIL 21, ARTSAKHPRESS:According to a report by online news outlet Ahval, Paylan's proposal includes the recognition of mass deportation and massacres that took place in 1915 as a genocide and that April 24 be accepted as the official date for commemoration of the Genocide victims. Furthermore, Paylan asks that parliament confer citizenship on the descendants of those who were forced to leave Turkey or were deported because of the events.
According to the source, Paylan also demands that a commission be established to identify the people who were responsible for the deportation of Armenians and to cleanse public spaces of their names, Panorama.am reports.
The proposal submitted by Paylan stated that "According to a census conducted in 1914, approximately two million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. At the night of April 24, 1915, around 250 Armenian intellectuals, including deputies and writers were arrested in İstanbul."
Paylan said in his proposal that "After these people were sent into exile in Ayaş and Çankırı, the vast majority of them were killed. Among the ones sent into exile and killed were Dr. Nazaret Dağavaryan (a member of Ottoman Parliament), Armen Doryan (poet and journalist), Şavarş Krisyan (editor of the sports magazine Marmnamarz), Levon Larents (poet), Rupen Sevag (poet), Yenovk Şahen (theater artist), Siamanto [Atom Yarcanyan] (poet), Hagop Terziyan (pharmacist and writer), Taniel Varujan (poet), Krikor Yesayan (teacher and translator), Rupen Zartaryan (writer and poet), Diran Kelekyan (writer and professor of Turkish language) and Krikor Zohrab (writer and a member of Ottoman Parliament)."
