Garo Paylan

Garo Paylan is a visiting scholar with the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. His research focuses on the South Caucasus and Türkiye.

Garo Paylan is a former member of the Turkish Parliament and a prominent human rights activist. He served in the Turkish Parliament for two terms as a representative of Istanbul (2015-2018) and later Diyarbakir (2018-2023). Paylan is one of the leading advocates for minority rights in Türkiye. He has been a frequent commentator on politics and economy for Turkish and international media organizations. 

Paylan has also been a vocal advocate for normalization between Türkiye and Armenia and peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

During both of his terms in the Turkish parliament, Paylan served at the Budget Committee, where he worked on income inequality and the peace dividend in Türkiye’s relations with neighbors.