ANKARA (Ermenihaber.am) — Exclaiming “Parev tzez,” Armenian MP Garo Paylan greeted his colleagues at the Turkish Parliament in Armenian, according to the Turkish newspaper Milliyet.
Addressing the parliament, Paylan, from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), referred to the killing of Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist Tahir Elci in Diyarbakir. He compared Elci with Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, calling him a “dove of peace.”
The Armenian MP strongly criticized the authorities. “There is dust on the state ‘three fingers thick.’ Our duty is to clean the dust, instead of hiding it. We covered up the murder of Hrant Dink, which led to the reoccurrence of the crime. Another ‘dove of peace’ — Tahir Elci, was killed,” Paylan said.
“Like Hrant Dink, Elci was committed to fighting for the sake of peace, brotherhood and democracy. Both were killed. And this is the result of the dust that has covered the state,” he said.