Garo Paylan, Istanbul Armenian MP and vice-chairman of the opposition pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, responded to the announcement on the launching of a criminal case against him, and under the infamous Article 301 (“insulting the Turkish nation”) of the Turkish Penal Code.
Armenian MP of Turkey: Judging me will not force me to abandon fight for justice for genocide
STEPANAKERT, MAY 19, ARTSAKHPRESS:Paylan told Agos Armenian weekly of Istanbul that he has always called the tragedy which his family and nation survived a “genocide.”
“As a deputy of the Turkish parliament, I have demanded from the Turkish parliament to call it like it is,” Paylan said, in particular. “Like everywhere, also in the interview noted in the criminal case filed against me, I have said the word ‘genocide.’ But I didn’t accuse today’s Turkish people, but the then junta with a genocidal mindset.
“Sadly, Turkey currently is again rolling back and attempting to prevent—with pressures—the demands for confrontation with the past. [But] let the [Turkish] prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice—which gave a green light to their criminal case—know that by filing a criminal case against me they will not force me to abandon the fight for justice for what has occurred in the present and in the past.”