YEREVAN, OCTOBER 18, ARMENPRESS. Member of the Turkish parliament representing Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of Armenian origin Garo Paylan has filed a formal complaint for anti-Armenian chants in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “Armenpress” informs Paylan twitted.  

Paylan demanded to file a lawsuit based on Article 216 (inciting people to hatred or enmity) and Article 125 (insulting) of the Turkish criminal code. Paylan noted that during an assembly with Erdoğan’s participation a group of people shouted “Armenian scum”, while the president and other officials kept silent and did not interfere.

“These words apart from being insulting for Armenians having lived on this soil for centuries and representing other ethnicity and religion, at the same time they contain hate speech according to the European Convention on Human Rights which is embraced by Turkey. Unfortunately, this is not the first incident against Armenians. Erdoğan’s silence and the fact of not rebuking those calls make similar calls more powerful making Armenians an easy target”, Paylan wrote in the complaint submitted to the court.

Erdoğan, Turkish Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu and Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroglu are presented as witnesses of the incident.

A day before, Paylan posted footage, showing a crowd cursing Armenians during an Erdogan speech. The audience was shouting “Armenian scum,” while Erdogan was smiling.

“The crowd which gathered in Trabzon for President Erdogan’s speech is cursing Armenians. No one interfered. I will file a complaint in the court tomorrow,” Paylan wrote.