ARMENIA CONDEMNS TURKISH THREAT TO EXPEL NATIONALS

Agence France Presse
March 17, 2010 Wednesday 4:38 PM GMT

Armenia on Wednesday condemned a threat by Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan to expel thousands of illegal Armenian workers,
saying it revived memories of World War I-era massacres.

"These kinds of political statements do not help to improve relations
between our two states…. When the Turkish prime minister allows
himself to make such statements it immediately for us brings up
memories of the events of 1915," Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sarkisian told parliament.

Erdogan made the threat after US and Swedish lawmakers recently voted
to brand World War I-era killings of Armenians under Ottoman Turks as
"genocide," a label that Ankara fiercely rejects.

In an interview with the BBC Turkish service, Erdogan said the votes
were undermining reconciliation efforts with Armenia and said Ankara
was "not obliged" to tolerate about 100,000 Armenians working illegally
in Turkey.

Following Swiss-brokered talks to end decades of enmity, Turkey and
Armenia signed an accord in October to establish diplomatic ties and
open their border.

The process has hit snags however, with both countries accusing each
other of lacking commitment to the deal.

The climate was further poisoned this month when the US House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved a non-binding resolution branding the
massacres of Armenians a genocide, and the Swedish parliament followed
suit last week.

Turkey recalled its ambassadors from both countries, warning that
bilateral ties and reconciliation efforts with Armenia would suffer.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in a systematic
extermination campaign during World War I as the Ottoman Empire
fell apart.

Turkey counters that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at
least as many Turks were killed in civil strife when Armenians rose
up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.