TURKEY SURPRISED AT STATEMENTS BY PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN
ArmInfo
2010-03-19 14:32:00
ArmInfo. The statements of Prime Minister Erdogan regarding possible
deportation of Armenians residing in Turkey have shocked Turkey,
Turkish media reported.
"No, dear prime minister, don’t touch the Armenians, protect them,"
"PM Erdogan’s Armenian hostages", "The Exodus – Part II?" , these
are just few of the numerous items in the Turkish media condemning
Erdogan’s statements.
Thus, Mehmet Ali Birand says: "I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard
the news. How could it be that Turkey’s prime minister could say such
a thing? Was it his own thought or did someone else think of it? Or
is there a misunderstanding? Or was he trying to say something else
but the wrong words came out of his mouth? No, the prime minister
clearly spoke these words on BBC. He openly underlined these words on
a TV channel watched throughout the world. He announced that citizens
of Armenia who came as tourists and started working illegally just
to earn a bit of money because they are so poor, would be deported
in case the initiative does not work. He might have intended to
intimidate Armenia."
For his part Semih Idiz writes: "Erdogan was referring to people who,
due to the hardships in their own country, have somehow made their
way to Turkey and are working here in order to be able to send their
meager earnings back home to sustain their families or loved ones.
This is not something that is alien to Turks, given that millions have
had to travel to Western countries over the past decades, leaving
home and hearth for the same reasons, many of them entering those
countries illegally as well."
The authors of the tiem "The Exodus – Part II?" says: "The killings
of Uighur Turks by the Chinese police during demonstrations constitute
genocide. I use this term intentionally." (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, July 2009)
"I went to Darfur myself and saw no genocide there. Muslims don’t
commit genocide." (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, November 2009)
"Politicians cannot decide on genocides. This is the duty of
historians." (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, March 2010)
"This concise compilation of three statements on three different
dates within a span of eight months has been brought to the public’s
attention by Cem Toker, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, or
LDP. Put in chronological sequence, the three remarks unmistakably
summarize Mr. Erdogan’s mindset on genocide.
When combined, the three statements allow us to safely conclude,
on the prime minister’s behalf, that: 1) Politicians other than Mr.
Erdogan himself should not make judgments about genocide, a crime
Muslims don’t commit but others – non-Muslim Chinese, for instance –
do; 2) The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians cannot amount
to genocide, but the deaths of less than a hundred Uighur Turks can;
and 3) Genocide is something visiting dignitaries can "see," and if
they don’t see it, a genocide did not take place," the author writes.
A number of leading mass media, organizations and experts condemned
Erdogan’s actually Fascist statements regarding possible deportation
of Armenians from Turkey comparing him with the Young Turks leaders
Enver pasha, Talaat Pasha and Cemal Pasha.