Garo Paylan

ANKARA—Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament representing the opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) warned on Wednesday that he has received intelligence about assassination plots targeting Turkish citizens living in Europe, among them Armenians who have left Turkey.

“I received intelligence last week about plans of assassination or chain of assassinations of our citizens living in Europe, particularly those in Germany, information that I have verified from multiple sources,” Paylan told reporters at Parliament on Wednesday.

“This Turkey-based structure mobilized certain people to carry out these assassinations,” he said, adding that several European countries have taken such tips seriously and their intelligence services have provided security for the persons and groups on the target.

“Recently, thousands of academics, journalists, politicians and opinion leaders were forced to live in Europe particularly due to the recent oppressive policies of the [ruling] AKP [Justice and Development Party],” said the Turkish lawmaker of Armenian origin.

He said that these “dark forces” are bolstered by the state policy of discrimination to take such actions.

“These journalists and academics have been labeled as ‘traitors’ by the government, the president and media. Such discourse and contradictions in politics unfortunately trigger action by certain groups.”

“With actions like this, what message is being sent to our academicians and journalists who are not able to freely express themselves in their own country? Is it ‘wherever you are we can find you and silence you?” asked Paylan.