Paylan: We're biting our tongues not to reply to deputy's remarks

Paylan: We're biting our tongues not to reply to deputy's remarks
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After a nationalist deputy voiced protest over HDP's support for the opposition's candidate, defining it as "terror's shadow," HDP deputy Paylan has said they will not reply in a similar tone.

In response to an official of nationalist opposition Good Party who targeted the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), HDP deputy Garo Paylan said on Thursday that they are "biting their tongues" over their respect for Good Party's voters who seek change.

A few hours after HDP officials announced on Wednesday that they will not field candidate in the presidential race, in an apparent sign of support for the opposition alliance's candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Good Party deputy Yavuz Agiralioglu told reporters at a press conference in the Turkish Grand National Assembly:

"We will not be in a place where terror casts its shadow."

He targeted HDP saying:

"We want to get the votes you receive, but we will not treat you as interlocutors. You are people with issues. I will not accept to be in a place where terror casts its shadow, will not let state institutions be harmed."

Garo Paylan, HDP deputy and a member of the Armenian community in Turkey, said in a live broadcast on Halk TV that at least 60% of the people in Turkey seek change, that the country is at a crossroads before imminent destruction, and that the voters of Good Party are part of the people seeking change.

He said:

"I could have told Yavuz Agiralioglu a whole lot of things. But we are biting our tongues. We are not saying these things because he has a voter base too, and his voters are also seeking change. I'm pretty sure that whoever acts irresponsibly at this political juncture will be subjected to criticism by the voters, and that Agiralioglu is actually being subjected to criticism by his voters."

He added:

"I hope he returns from that path, because if he doesn't he will have to find a place for himself in the dump heap of history just like other government representatives."