ERDOGAN GOES BACK ON HIS WORD

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.03.2010 17:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on
Friday defended his statements about deporting undocumented Armenian
workers and criticized the media for misinterpreting his remarks.

He said the media was wrong to compare Roma and Armenian citizens to
illegal immigrants, saying his comments in London were distorted.

Erdogan said Tuesday in an interview with the BBC Turkish service
that illegal immigrants from Armenia would be expelled, sparking
outrage among the opposition and media.

Things are evaluated differently for citizens within the framework
of the law, he said at the ruling Justice and Development Party,
or AKP, headquarters on Friday, adding that citizens are different
than people who reside in the country illegally.

Erdogan said the foreign press had misinterpreted his definition of
"illegal". He said he was not addressing Turkish citizens of Armenian
descent.

He criticized those asking for an apology. "We know very well who
that apology should come from," he said.

Erdogan made the threat after U.S. and Swedish lawmakers
approved a resolution recognizing the Genocide of Armenians,
Assyrians/Syrians/Chaldeans and Pontic Greeks.

During his speech on Friday, Erdogan reminisced about Sunday’s meeting
with nearly 13,000 Roma in Istanbul. "The enthusiasm at this meeting
did not wane for a moment," he said.

"The Roma citizens are my citizens, and they have not benefited from
citizenship laws for the last 10 years," he said. "We will fix these
problems. If there is a need to apologize to them, I will apologize
to them now in the name of the Turkish state.

"The Roma are not a minority but an essential element in this country,"
he said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.