Photos of Ottoman Armenian parliament members rested on the seats of the Turkish National Assembly
ANKARA—Turkish-Armenian parliament member Garo Paylan, who represents the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), resurrected the memories of the 13 Armenian members of the Ottoman General Assembly who were massacred on April 24, 1915 as he commemorated the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Thursday at the Turkish Parliament.
In his address to Parliament, Paylan read the names and displayed the photographs of several Armenian politicians killed, arrested, or exiled in the Armenian Genocide, including Krikor Zohrab (Istanbul), Bedros Haladjian (Istanbul), Nazaret Daghavarian (Sivas), Garabed Pashaian (Sivas), Ohannes Seringiulian (Erzurum), Onnik Tersekian (Van), Hampartsum Boyadjian (Kozan), Vahan Papazian (Van), Hagop Babikian (Tekirdağ), Karekin Pastermadjian (Erzurum), Kegham Der Garabedian (Mush), Hagop Boyadjian (Tekirdağ), and Artin Boshgezenian (Aleppo). Paylan also detailed the fate of each Armenian politician during the Armenian Genocide.
During his address, which he began with the Armenian greeting “Parev tsez,” Paylan condemned the murder of the politicians and said that the Turkish state should come to terms with its history. Paylan also condemned the fact that several places in Turkey are named after the organizers and perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. “Can you imagine going to Germany and walking on avenues named after Hitler?” Paylan asked.
Paylan held up the photographs of each massacred Ottoman lawmaker of Armenian descent and read aloud their names and places of birth, and in Armenian proclaimed Աստուած հոգին լուսաւորէ—May God Bless Their Souls
He later tweeted a similar message with photographs of the martyred Ottoman Armenian Deputies.