WASHINGTON TRIES TO SMOOTH ERDOGAN’S STATEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2010 13:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
recent statement about deportation of 100 thousand illegal Armenians
immigrants should not be linked to the Armenians Genocide resolution
adopted by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to Philip
Gordon, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European
and Eurasian Affairs.

"Mr. Erdogan just wanted to say that there are 100 thousand Armenian
immigrants in Turkey but I don’t think he threatened to evict them,"
CNN-Turk quoted Mr. Gordon as saying.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday 100 thousand
illegal Armenian immigrants can be deported from the country.

"There are 170 thousand Armenians living in Turkey. 70 thousand of
them are Turkish citizens. If necessary, I will tell the remaining 100
thousand to leave. I can do so because they are not Turkish citizens
and I’m not obliged to keep them in my country," Erdogan said.