TURKEY THREATENS TO DEPORT 100,000 ARMENIANS

MSNBC
247/ns/world_news-europe/
March 17 2010

‘I don’t have to keep them in my country,’ Turkish premier says

ANKARA – Turkey’s prime minister has warned that he might deport
up to 100,000 Armenians living in Turkey without citizenship after
resolutions passed by U.S. and Swedish lawmakers defining World War
One-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Earlier this month, Turkey withdrew its ambassadors to Washington
and Stockholm after a U.S. congressional committee and the Swedish
parliament passed the non-binding resolutions.

It also warned that the resolutions could affect progress in fragile
reconciliation process between Turkey and Armenia.

Asked during an interview with the BBC Turkish service in London
on Tuesday what he thought about the resolutions, Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan said: "There are currently 170,000 Armenians living
in our country. Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are
tolerating the remaining 100,000."

He added: "If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back
to their country because they are not my citizens. I don’t have to
keep them in my country."

The majority of Armenians in Turkey live and work in Istanbul. Many
came after an earthquake in their homeland in 1988 and work illegally
and send remittances home.

‘Important decision’ for Armenia Erdogan accused the Armenian diaspora
of being behind the resolutions in foreign parliaments, and called
on Armenia and other foreign governments to avoid being swayed by
their lobbying.

"Armenia has an important decision to make. It should free itself from
its attachment to the diaspora. Any country which cares for Armenia,
namely the U.S., France and Russia, should primarily help Armenia to
free itself from the influence of the diaspora."

Erdogan’s comments threaten to strain Turkish-Armenian ties, which
are traumatized by the deportation and killing of Armenians during
the chaotic end of the Ottoman empire nearly a century ago.

Click for related content House panel OKs Armenian genocide measure

The issue of the Armenian massacres is deeply sensitive in Turkey,
which accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks but vehemently denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it
amounted to genocide — a term employed by many Western historians
and some foreign parliaments.

Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia agreed last year to establish
diplomatic ties and open their border if their parliaments approved
peace accords, but the votes have not taken place and the governments
have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts.