Turkish MP Armenian member of the Democratic Party of Peoples (HDP) Garo Paylan proposed on January 13 that the Turkish Parliament removes affiliation with a religious component on Turkish identity cards and removes secret codes ethnicity classification for citizens.

In his speech to Parliament on 13 January, Garo Paylan noted that he himself was subjected to the racism in the Turkish bureaucracy, because of these classification systems. “When they see a name like Garo that is not familiar, they seek to find religion related. When they see that I am registered as a Christian, work one day will not be for a week or ten days … I have repeatedly been the victim of discrimination, “he has said.

Garo Paylan also strongly criticized the classification of secret codes of the ethnic origin of citizens, the government keeps on file. “We, Armenians have the number” 2 S “, the Greeks the” 1S “, Jews have the” 3 S “and the Assyrians the” 4 S “Has he said, adding that people are discriminated against because of these codes in various ministries like the army.