70,000 ILLEGAL ARMENIANS LIVING AND WORKING IN TURKEY

The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Netherlands
Oct 16 2007

It’s great to see articles such as "Armenians Who Need Help
Today" in the American press. Mr Fred Hiatt writes: The heads of
both U.S. organizations told me that their groups have worked,
sometimes quietly, to promote human rights and civil society in
Armenia. Undoubtedly their influence would be limited, no matter how
hard they tried.

But what if they had tried as fervently as they did to win Wednesday’s
vote? It’s hard not to think that 3 million Armenians might be less
poor and more free than they are today.

On the same note, in one of my earlier posts I had written: The
Diaspora Armenians should concentrate on helping their own country
instead of spending millions of dollars to get recognition for a
wartime tragedy to be accepted as genocide which allegedly took place
nearly 100 years ago.

Today Armenians from motherland are so poor, they are forced to look
for jobs elsewhere in order to be able to feed their family.

It is estimated that 70,000 Armenians from mainland Armenia, are
living and working illegally in Turkey today. These people must not
be confused with the Turkish-Armenians who were born in Turkey. While
Turkish authorities are much stricter on other nationalities such as
Moldovians, Uzbekis etc who also work illegally in Turkey in great
numbers, they have been much more tolerant towards the Armenians.

I have many friends who employ Armenians. One friend’s 82 year old
uncle in Istanbul has an Armenian woman in her 50’s taking care of him
for the past 7 years. He pays her about $500 a month, she sleeps in
the same house, she cooks what he buys and eats with him. His uncle
is extremely happy to have her and she is extremely grateful to have
a job. She finally told my friend this year, with enough Turkish she
has learned, that all of the other Armenians working in same type of
jobs, did not care for the passage of the Genocide Resolution. She
said "I am working kacak (illegallly) here and all the money I earn,
I am sending it to Armenia to my 2 sons who are working in Russia for
low wages, because there is nothing in Armenia." She said, about 7
years ago her husband suddenly died and she had nothing to live on,
so she slipped into Turkey, came to Istanbul and found a job that
she was grateful for. She was genuinely wondering about what would
become of her if the Resolution is passed, and the Turkish Government
started cracking down on these 70,000 illegal Armenians in Turkey.

This is the story of one Armenian Citizen in Turkey. Multiply this
70,000 times and you will realize what kind of financial damage will
be caused to Armenia, if the Turkish Government chooses to crack down.

And this is just one of the many reasons why passage of a much
politicized Resolution is not only untimely but also unnecessary.

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