TURKISH PM COUNTERS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WITH THREATS OF EXPULSION

DC Progressive
rkish-pm-counters-armenian-genocide-with-threats-o f-expulsion/
March 17 2010

Turkish Prime minister Erdogan’s proposed course of action regarding
the Armenian genocide is painfully ironic. The logic goes something
like this: "Our nation did not systematically round up and murder
over one million Armenians during World War I. And to prove it,
I will now systematically round up and expel hundreds of thousands
of Armenians living on Turkish soil." Try arguing with that.

In response to recent resolutions passed in the US Congress and
Swedish Parliament characterizing the war-time massacres of Armenians
as genocide, the Turkish government has recalled its ambassadors from
both countries. Then, the Prime Minister suggested in an interview
with the BBC that such international recognition of the genocide
would prompt an expulsion of Armenian immigrants living in Turkey.

"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. 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 undocumented workers to which the PM refers are mostly women from
Armenia’s impoverished countryside who have migrated to Istanbul where
they work in the service sector. While a number of politicians have
described Erdogan’s comments as empty threats, they are a troubling
reminder that Armenians are still unwelcome in Turkey.

To date, over twenty countries have officially recognized the Armenian
genocide, as well as international organizations including the European
Parliament and MERCOSUR.