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Ankara Prosecutor seeks to strip Armenian lawmaker Garo Paylan of immunity

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The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s office has prepared a summary of proceedings against eight deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including Turkish-Armenian lawmaker Garo Paylan, on the grounds of “insulting the Turkish nation, the Turkish state, its army and police forces,” “acting against the law on political parties,” “making terror propaganda,” and “insulting the president,” Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The summary of proceedings said HDP deputies Osman Baydemir, Alican Önlü, Feleknas Uca, Sibel Yiğitalp, Nadir Yıldırım, Dilek Öcalan, Mizgin Irgat, and Paylan had “praised” the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, in their speeches and publicly expressed condolences to the killed PKK militants, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on April 10.

The summary of proceedings, asking for the removal of the parliamentary immunities of the eight deputies, has been sent to the Justice Ministry, the agency said.

According to the Prosecutor’s office, Paylan, a member of the parliament from Istanbul, should be sued by the Turkish courts for “humiliating” remarks he made in Canada in May 2017 “towards the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey and insulting the President,” Anadolu Agency says.

Paylan has been vocal about the plight of Armenians in Turkey and the overall human rights situation in the country.

When in Canada in May 2017, the lawmaker held a series of meetings in Ottawa and Montreal with Members of Parliament and various current and former Canadian officials

He provided an overview of the current political climate in Turkey, the aftermath of the constitutional referendum and the ongoing uncertainty and concern regarding the rights and freedoms of the minorities living in Turkey. He stressed the importance of acknowledging history, specifically in regards to the Armenian Genocide, stating, “unpunished crimes lead to new crimes.”

Related links:

Hurriyet Daily News. Ankara prosecutor’s office prepares summary of proceedings against eight HDP deputies
Anadolu Agency. HDP’li 8 milletvekilli hakkında fezleke

Garo Paylan, fellow HDP members attacked by ruling-AKP MPs in Turkish Parliament

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Garo Paylan attacked by ruling-AKP MPs in Turkish Parliament

Garo Paylan attacked by ruling-AKP MPs in Turkish Parliament

Members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including Armenian Member of Turkish Parliament Garo Paylan, were attacked on Wednesday at a parliamentary session. According to Erbil-based Kurdistan 24 news outlet, the parliamentarians were attacked by a group of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmakers.

HDP Member of Parliament (MP) Mahmut Togrul, who represents the Gaziantep Province had his left arm broken, and his colleague Muslum Dogan of Izmir was kicked in the chest during the melee, which reportedly began after members of the HDP accused the government of engaging in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kurdish people in Syria’s Afrin.

“The rhetoric ‘we will give Afrin to its rightful owners’ and announcements to settle refugees [in Turkey] there, is a plan of demographic change in a Kurdish-populated region; it is called ethnic cleansing,” Togrul had told the assembly during a speech, as quoted by Kurdistan 24.

“Kurds live in Afrin for a millennium. It is called ‘Kurd-Dagh’ (Kurd Mountain). You cannot resettle someone from Aleppo, Idlib, and Raqqa in the houses and lands of the people of Afrin,” he said, referring to Sunni Arab-populated cities of Syria.

According to Torgul, about 40 AKP members rushed the HDP lawmakers and threw punches and delivered kicks to them when they fell to the ground. The attack ended after members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) intervened.

“I was seriously beaten. I went to the hospital and received a medical report that I cannot work for 45 days,” Torgul added in his comments to Kurdistan 24. He also noted that MPs Garo Paylan and Behcet Yildirim also received serious blows during the attack.

“Last night in Parliament, the AKP tried to lynch us. They show their barbarism everywhere. We will continue to resist the fascists and we will win,” Paylan noted on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Garo Paylan asks Interior Minister to explain intervention in Armenian Patriarchal election process

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garo paylan

garo paylan

HDP MP Garo Paylan has sent an inquiry to Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, asking to respond to the termination of the election process of the Armenian Patriarch by the Istanbul Governor’s Office, Agos reported.

he said Mesrob Mutafyan, the Patriarch of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, has been unable to carry out his mission for eleven years due to dementia, he reminded, adding that on March 15, 2017 Archbishop Karekin Bekchiyan was elected as Locum Tenens.

However, the Istanbul Governor’s Office sent a letter to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople on February 5, noting that it does not recognize Karekin Bekchiyan as Locum Tenens, but recognizes Aram Atesyan as General Vicar.

Garo Palyan said in the inquiry that the decision caused deep despair in society. In this context he asked the Interior Minister to explain the basis of the interference of the state with the Armenian community in the patriarchal electoral process.

Paris: Garo Paylan acclaimed at the CCAF dinner, in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron

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Garo Paylan, Emmanuel Macron

Garo Paylan, Emmanuel Macron

For its fifth edition, the CCAF dinner is more than ever a meeting point for the Armenian community in France … and even beyond: this year, the Turkish MP Garo Paylan made the trip to discuss with Emmanuel Macron, and receive the Vermeil medal from the hands of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

An award well deserved for the courageous politician of opposition, long and several times applauded by the 500 people present in the room of reception of the hotel of the Collector this Tuesday, January 30, 2018.

” There is one that is in immense danger today in Turkey. And he’s here tonight, with us! I want to talk about Garo Paylan, “said Mourad Papazian, co-chair of the CCAF, in the preamble. ” Your life is in danger every day. You are a hero of democracy, of human rights “: by giving back the highest distinction of the capital, Anne Hidalgo wanted to prove that” whenever you need us, the Armenians will be there, and Paris will be there “. ” Thank you for being here, thank you for the action you take ,” said Mourad Papazian, a thank you widely shared by all those present who have flocked to his side to say a few words and support him in its indispensable action in the democratic opposition of the Turkish Parliament.

Garo Paylan, Ara Toranian, Emmanuel Macron, Murad Papazian © Claire Barbuti.

At his side at the head table, on the one hand the director Costa-Gavras, sensitive to the Armenian cause, but also Serge and Beate Klasfeld who received the medal of the courage of the CCAF from the hands of the co-president Ara Toranian , for their fight, a fight of justice and memory.

We have always been with the Armenian people ,” said Serge. And we are also campaigning for Israel to do its best for recognition. We also hope that the law repressing the denial of the Armenian genocide will be voted in France, as well as the one that protects the Jewish community. “

LIVE | Speech of the President of the Republic before the Coordinating Council of the Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) .

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, also spoke about this law in his speech of about thirty minutes: ” We must fight against negationism (…) It is essential that the national representation recovers in the coming months of this subject “. A necessity all the more urgent as, as pointed out by the master of ceremonies André Manoukian relying on the writings of Paul Ricœur ( Memory, History, Forgetting ): ” We Armenians, if we want to apply the principle of forgiveness, there would be no one to forgive because Turkey always denies “.

Ara Toranian insisted on the importance of such a penalization law, ” as is the official inscription in the Republican calendar of commemorations of April 24th or the teaching of genocide in school curricula according to the terms advocated by the mission of Vincent Duclert “. On this first point too, President Macron made commitments: ” For the duty of the memoir, we support the Republican calendar the inscription of a day of commemoration of the genocide . This is a commitment I made when I was a candidate, and I confirm it tonight . “

” Francois Hollande has done a remarkable job for the Armenian cause. We are counting on you to pick up his arrow and launch it even further, “said André Manoukian in a poetico-just formulation of which he has the secret. The musician and man of television was illustrated throughout the evening by his lyrical speeches, personal and humorous. In particular, he paid homage to his grandmother, ” to whom I doubtless owe my immoderate love for the mountains. She was a hiking champion. She made Amasya / Deir ez-Zor, 1000 kilometers on foot, with her sisters, whose face she smeared with mud so that they would not get kidnapped … But these stories you know them all “, because they are those of every Armenian present in the room.

In the room, we can note the presence of two ambassadors, Viguen Tchitetchian and Jonathan Lacote, elected officials of Armenian origin (the mayor of Lyon Georges Képénékian, Patrick Devedjian, deputies Danièle Cazarian and Jacques Marilossian ” happy to be there, for my first CCAF dinner, which has a great importance “, …) or not (Luc Carvounas, Valérie Boyer, René Rouquet, François-Michel Lambert, many new members of En Marche, …), religious figures, journalists (Laurent Joffrin, Daniel Bilalian, Audrey Pulvar, Georges Malbrunot, Valerie Toranian, …) or artists (Levon Sayan, Alain Terzian, Matthew Madenian, Robert Kechichian, …).

” All the fights we are waging with you are not purely retrospective ,” continued the head of state, a forget-me-not pinned to his jacket. By your action, you force us to face our present, and open our eyes to the tragedies of our time “, speaking in particular of Burma, Libya, Syria, in particular face Patrick Karam, president of the Chredo, and Elise Boghossian, both present in the room. ” As yesterday it welcomed the Armenians fleeing the genocide, it is the honor of France to welcome the refugees today “, assured Emmanuel Macron, coming to the dialogue he has engaged with Turkey: ” We need Turkey “.

What Toranian has nuanced: ” We are told that we need Turkey. Without a doubt. But in any case not a Turkey that threatens its neighbors , which occupies Cyprus, a member state of the European Union, which throws its journalists in prison, which today has 55,000 political prisoners, who dismissed 160,000 civil servants for offense of opinion and waging war on Kurds inside and outside its borders, including those fighting Daesh on the ground. What Emmanuel Macron, who received Erdogan at the Elysee less than a year ago, has persisted: ” I assume the choice to continue to speak, to say things, to get the results. I assume this imbalance, this choice more difficult, less glorious than big statements but more useful.

Another subject that crystallized the discussions last night: Artsakh and its security . ” Tonight I want to take you somewhere else. Come with me to Karabakh, “said Mourad Papazian to the President of the Republic, who rebounded on these words in his own speech:” I will not accompany you (…) I think your fight is essential. But I also think of the role of France, which is to build the necessary compromise. I hope to come the day we will have to settle all that, because the status quo is not an option. “

Wednesday, January 31, 2018,
Claire © armenews.com

Turkey NGO nominates Garo Paylan for Nobel Peace Prize

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Hamshen, a non-governmental women’s rights activist, has voted in favor of Turkish Armenian MP Garo Paylan’s bid for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, according to the Turkish-Armenian news website Ermenihaber .am. Saida Ohanyan, president of the International Association of “Hamshanuhi”, an organization committed to defending the rights of women in Hamshen, has nominated Garo Paylan

Garo Paylan nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

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An association of Armenian women from Hamshen has asked the Nobel Committee to nominate Garo Paylan, a Turkish-Armenian lawmaker from the People’s Democratic Party, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In her message, the association’s president, Saida Ohanyan, said she dedicated all her life to the campaign for the protection of the Armenians and other ethnic groups residing in Turkey, Rusarminfo.ru reports.

Paylan recently submitted a written proposal to the Turkish parliament with a request for creating a special commission to investigate the assassination of Hrant Dink, the founding editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Armenian weekly Agos.

Paylan’s Armenian phrase over Hrant Dink replaced with ‘X’ sign in Turkish parliament’s records

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Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament representing the opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) has referred to murder case of journalist Hrant Dink on the 11th anniversary of his assassination in his address to Turkey’s Majlis (parliament).

At the parliament session held on Thursday, Paylan and his party submitted a proposal to the Majlis calling for an investigating of the developments following Dink’s murder and preventing such acts, however HDP’s proposal was not included in the agenda, Ermenihaber reported citing T24 news agency.

The Turkish source noted that at the end of his speech dedicated to Turkish-Armenian intellectual, editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink, who was shot dead with three bullets on Jan. 19, 2007 in front Agos’ then-headquarters, Paylan used an Armenian phrase, “Asdvadz hogid lusavi” (God bless your soul), thanking him in Armenian. However, an ‘X’ sign was used instead of his Armenian remarks in the parliamentary records.

Earlier the Arabic and Kurdish language phrases addressed to the Turkish parliament were also replaced with the ‘X’ sign in the records.

Ruling party lawmaker tries to attack Armenian MP of Turkey at parliament

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Speaking at parliament, Garo Paylan, Istanbul Armenian MP from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, called on the minister of finance to investigate the offshore accounts of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family.

This call, however, was not to the liking of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy İlknur İnceöz, according to Demokrathaber website of Turkey. She said Paylan is the last person to give them lessons on ethics.

“You’re not even the last person in this parliament,” İnceöz added.

And when Paylan responded to her by saying, “Don’t be unethical!” she walked towards him in anger.

But the parliament session was recessed to calm down the MPs.

Armenian MP of Turkey: Ex-President Gül must take responsibility

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Speaking on a TV program, Garo Paylan, Istanbul Armenian MP from the opposition and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, spoke about the need for the return of former President Abdullah Gül.

Paylan noted that Gül is one of the founders of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and he knows many things about Turkey, according to Demokrathaber website of the country.

“After Gül’s leaving the [AKP] party, the party has deviated from its fundamental precepts,” said the Armenian member of the Turkish legislature. “At the moment, Turkey needs Abdullah Gül; he must take responsibility.”

In recent days, former President Abdullah Gül criticized the policy of the incumbent Turkish authorities for the first time, and stressed that this policy is fraught with numerous perils.

And in response to this criticism, the authorities stated that Gül is simply making a pre-election move ahead of Turkey’s general election in 2019.

Garo Paylan brings the issue of Armenian Patriarch’s election to Turkish Parliament

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Garo Paylan

Garo Paylan

Member of the Turkish Parliament, ethnic Armenian Garo Paylan raised the issue of Armenian patriarchal elections in the Turkish parliament, Ermenihaber.am reports.

In a written note to Süleyman Soylu, Paylan asked about the reasons of the Turkish government’s intervention in the elections of the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul.

“Armenian Patriarch Mesrop Mutafyan has not been able to perform his duties for nine years because of illness. To start the process of election of a new Patriarch, clergymen of the Armenian Patriarchate elected Karekin Bekchyan as Locum Tenens,” Paylan noted.

He reminded that the Patriarchate then sent a notice to the Ministry of Interior through the Istanbul Governor’s Office. “No response has been received, although the two-round elections were planned to be held on December 10 and 13,” he added.

The lawmaker cited media reports claiming that Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin does not recognize Karekin Bekcyan as Locum Tenens  and offers to choose between the two other Archbishops of Istanbul.

Garo Paylan then voiced the concern of the Armenian community connected with the dragging out of the process and the government’s intervention “in the organization of the election, which the Armenian community has the right to.”

Paylan then asks to clarify the grounds of the government’s intervention in the process, explain the reasons of the delay and demands clarification on when the “government will stop creating obstacles in the organization of the Patriarchal election.”