Epress.am News from Armenia
A statement made by pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MP Sirri Sakık caused a heated debate in Turkey’s Grand National Assembly yesterday. As reported by the Epress.am correspondent in Istanbul, during discussion of the draft budget, the MP elected from Muş declared that in Turkey’s history, Dec. 19 has been “a witness to massacres”.
The MP recalled the massacres of Kurds in Kahramanmaraş in 1978 when government representatives killed hundreds of civilians. Then he mentioned the massacre in 1915 against Armenians, followed by massacres against the Jews, then Kurds. In his remarks, the pro-Kurdish MP noted that Turkey has a culture of instigating massacres.
The deputy chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), and MPs with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) strongly reacted to Sakık’s statement, exhorting him not to say such things.