Yannis Vasilis

Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı, born İbrahim Yaylalı, is a former Turkish nationalist, turned Turkish-Greek pacifist and activist, promoting and defending Greek heritage in Turkey. An avowed Turkish nationalist, he joined the Turkish army in 1994 to fight the PKK insurgency. Taken captive, his family requested governmental help for his release, which was declined on the basis of Yaylalı's Greek heritage.

Yaylalı was arrested on April 22, 2017, for commemorating online the early 20th century genocides of Greeks and Armenians that same day. He recalled the approach of the Turkish state against the Kurds during the 1990s, and stated "We have harmed Kurdish villages in the past quite badly. The villages were burned down. The villagers have been kidnapped and tortured" and added, "But today is much bigger than the 1990s. They now target a community to change the demographics as a whole, and not just in North, but in all parts of Kurdistan." While name change to foreign names is not legal in Turkey, Yaylalı argues "that a Greek surname cannot be considered as foreign, as the definition of 'foreigner' cannot include citizens with minority ethnic or religious identities."