DAILY STAR LEBANON SLAMS ERDOGAN’S THREAT TO DEPORT ARMENIAN WORKERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.03.2010 13:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has
laid down a dangerous and seemingly inexplicable threat, according
to Daily Star Lebanon.

As Shahan Kandaharian, Editor-in-Chief of Beirut-based Aztag newspaper
told PanARMENIAN.Net, that the newspaper accused Turkey of using
double standards.

"Turkey distinguished itself by criticizing the policies of a certain
state, Israel, against a certain stateless people, the Palestinians.

One interview to the BBC could destroy all of the credit amassed by
Erdogan and his government, and make him out to be a petty settler of
scores, not a statesman," the newspaper said. "For the region, Turkey
hasn’t been a shining beacon of free civil society and democracy,
but it’s served as a possible model for the future of Arab states:
civilian governments and a military that doesn’t directly hold the
reigns of power. How could Ergodan’s move possibly benefit anyone?"

"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 earlier
this week.

The fierce reaction of the Turkish PM came after the adoption of
the Armenian Genocide resolution, H.Res.252, by the US House Foreign
Affairs Committee on March 4 and passage of a resolution recognizing
the Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Pontiac Greeks
by the Swedish parliament on March 11.