TURKISH PM THREATENS TO EXPEL ILLEGAL ARMENIANS WORKERS
ANSAmed
March 17, 2010 Wednesday 9:52 AM CET
Italy
(ANSAmed) Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan threatened to expel
thousands of illegal Armenians workers amid tensions over allegations
that Armenians were victims of "genocide" under the Ottoman Empire.
Resolutions voted recently in the United States and Sweden to brand
the World War I killings as "genocide" undermined peace efforts with
Armenia, Erdogan said, according to excerpts from an interview with
the BBC Turkish service published today by the local press. "Those
people make shows with those resolutions… And they harm the Armenian
people as well… And things become deadlocked," he was quoted as
saying during a visit to London.
Referring to about 100,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey that
Ankara has so far tolerated, he said, "So what will I do tomorrow? If
necessary, I will tell them ‘come on, back to your country’… I’m
not obliged to keep them in my country. "Those actions (on genocide
resolutions) unfortunately have a negative impact on our sincere
attitudes," he said.
Forced to leave their impoverished country to earn a living, thousands
of Armenians, mostly women, have settled in Istanbul, working mainly
in manual jobs or as nannies and cleaning ladies.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
