Garo Paylan, Istanbul Armenian MP from the opposition and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, has reflected on the present-day situation in the country, and drawn respective parallels with 1915.

Paylan told Gazete Duvar (Wall Newspaper) online newspaper of Turkey that he feels like as if it were 1915.

“The current climate in Turkey is like the climate created by Talaat and Enver [Pashas, the architects of Armenian Genocide],” he said. “In those times, too, the democratic demands of the Armenian people, the Armenian MPs were the same as the demands of the Kurdish party today.

“At that time, the authorities responded to the Armenians’ [democratic] demands with genocide. One hundred years have passed, but it’s the same climate today in Turkey.

“If there is a little intelligence left among the [present-day Turkish] authorities, they must stop all this. Otherwise, the rug will be pulled from under their feet.”