Turkish-Armenian MP Garo Paylan, representing the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), took to Twitter to respond to remarks about the Armenia Genocide made by Turkish President Erdoghan’s spokesperson.
Turkey on Wednesday hit out at French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
"We condemn and reject attempts by Macron, who is afflicted by political problems in his own country, to try and save the day by turning historical events into a political matter," Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in a statement after the French leader's announcement on Tuesday.
In a tweet on Thursday Paylan questioned Ibrahim Kalin’s statement, saying: “If the Armenian Genocide is a lie, why the Turkish President has been sending condolence messages to the Armenian community five years in a row on every April 24”
“Turkey is yet to face and name the tragedy of the Armenian people displaced and slaughtered by the decision of the state. What happened should concern first the president and the Speaker of Turkish parliament. They should face and call the tragedy with a proper name as we have been waiting for justice for104 years,” Paylan wrote in a separate post.
To remind, speaking to the Armenian community at a dinner in Paris, Macron said: "France is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face, which was among the first to denounce the killing of the Armenian people, which in 1915 named genocide for what it was, which in 2001 after a long struggle recognized it in law."
France "will in the next weeks make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide," he added.