YEREVAN.-  Armenians of Turkey live in fear, they prefer to be silent, but even wordlessness does not bring peace, Istanbul Armenian MP of the opposition pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, Garo Paylan stated on Tuesday at a panel discussion within the framework of the 6th Armenia-Diaspora Pan-Armenian Conference being held in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

"There are many Islamized Armenians in Turkey," Paylan said noting that at the end of 1990th people were afraid to say that they had Armenian roots but in 2013 they spoke about their origin with pride. But he added that now, when the president is Erdogan, they keep it in secret again.

"Hundreds of Islamized Armenians live in Hamshen, many of them, by the way, speak Armenian, but they try to keep it in secret. Other Armenians living in Turkey are also in fear, they are silent, but I want to tell them that the wordlessness does not lead to calmness at all. If you are Armenian, then you can't be calm in these conditions, "said Paylan.