Paylan asks Turkish Vice President if the state is turning a blind eye

Garo Paylan, deputy for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a member of the Armenian community in Turkey, asked the Vice President of Turkey in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) why nothing has been done in the past three months about allegations on plans to assassinate him.

Paylan addressed Vice President Fuat Oktay during discussions on the presidential budget in the parliament's planning and budget commission on Friday, first by referring to a recent court case in which a former member of the Turkish Special Warfare Division is accused of setting up a crime organization within the Turkish Armed Forces.

Paylan said:

"The same crime organization is said to have made plans to execute me at the parliament in the context of preparations for a military coup in 2016. It is said that they were planning to execute me in the corridors of the parliament. Many details of it have been disclosed, and I filed a criminal complaint based on that information. I made a request to our Speaker of the Parliament for necessary steps to be taken. I've written to many state agencies. It has been over three months now. Not a single state agency has taken action."

He continued:

"You have one single Armenian deputy in the country. And plans of a crime organization concerning this deputy have been disclosed. Why have no state agency taken action in the past three months on allegations that they were planning to kill the deputy at the parliament? Do they take action only when you, the government, are concerned? I'm asking you very clearly, do the state agencies just turn a blind eye when plans against an opposition member, a Kurd, an Armenian are concerned?"