Beker Bozdagh Prevents Georgie Aslan from Christmas Greetings
“Beker Bozdagh,” Deputy Speaker of Parliament, prevented “Georgie Aslan” from delivering Christmas greetings.
According to “Kurd Press,” Georgie Aslan, representative of the people of Mardin from the Democratic and Peoples’ Equality Party, dedicated part of his parliamentary speech to Christmas greetings in Syriac language, but his microphone was cut off by “Beker Bozdagh,” Deputy Speaker of Parliament from the Justice and Development Party.
After finishing his speech, Georgie thanked Beker Bozdagh, but other parliament members informed him that his voice had been cut off while speaking in Syriac, an issue that caused him distress.
In response to this act, he severely criticized Beker Bozdagh, saying: “Yesterday when verses of the Holy Quran were being recited in parliament, the system was not cut off, because they consider it a sacred language. But the language I speak is the language of Jesus Christ, and this language is also sacred.”
The microphone cutoff by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament drew extensive criticism from representatives of the Democratic and Peoples’ Equality Party and other religious minorities in the Turkish parliament. They described this act as an instance of discrimination against minorities, non-Turkish languages, and ethnic groups.
