The key to healing the wounds of Armenians is in Turkey, said Garo Paylan, Istanbul-Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament, speaking to the Voice of America Armenian service.

Paylan is currently visiting the US, and the American-Armenian community is welcoming him with warm greetings. 

Paylan noted that he is in the US to not only express his views on the situation in Turkey, but to get familiarized with the views of the West.

In the Istanbul-Armenian MP’s words, the prospects for improving Armenian-Turkish relations are dim, at present. As per Paylan, the ideologists of old, conservative Turkey do not wish to establish relations with Armenia. They want to see Armenia as a threat, or a vice. According to Paylan, Turkey portrays the Armenian diaspora also as a vice. 

As per Paylan, however, the avenue towards normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations is the assistance by the West to the democratic forces in Turkey. He stated that if the international community wants a democratic country in the Muslim world, it needs to support the democrats in Turkey.

Garo Paylan also appealed to the Armenians in Armenia and the diaspora. He stated that Turkey is also the land of Armenians, and therefore making Turkey a democratic country is partly the task of all Armenians, too. Paylan added that even though Armenians have survived genocide and this wound has not healed after one hundred years, the key to healing this wound is in Turkey.