The March 18 special session of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) was devoted to the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of Dardanelles (Gallipoli, Çanakkale) and the memory of the victims. According to the Turkish Milliyet, the word “genocide” expressed during the session made the deputies break into frenzy, writes ermenihaber.am.

Speaking on behalf of Turkey’s “Democratic Party of Nations” Party (HDP), Deputy Levent Tuzel said what happened to the Armenians was genocide.

Tuzel particularly said: “Our Armenian citizens (the Anatolians) were doing well when they were there, but in the same period, Armenian intellectuals were being exiled in Istanbul, that is, Babeali (Tall Door) Sultanahmet. If we all proudly use the slogan “Çanakkale is impassable” and stand up for the heritage of people who shed blood to maintain that slogan, then we also have to touch upon the fact that the Armenians fought on the battlefield, were exiled and became victims of genocide, as well as our policy that made it possible to murder an intellectual like Hrant.”

“Levent Tuzel’s claim that Armenian intellectuals were exiled during the Battle of Çanakkale and that the Armenians were subject to genocide, changed the atmosphere of victory in the parliament. Member of the “Democratic Party of Nations” Idris Baluken was the only one who applauded Tuzel’s speech,” writes Milliyet.

After Tuzel’s speech, several other deputies, including leader of the oppositional “Nationalist Movement Party” (MHP) Yusuf Halacoglu and member of the pro-government “Justice and Development” Party (AKP) Naji Bogtanjn criticized Tuzeli for using the term “genocide” and for, according to them, speaking in support of the Armenians “who organized rebellions in cooperation with the Russians”.