Aljazeera.net, Qatar
March 20 2010

Turkey downplays expulsion threat

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has said he had no
immediate plans to expel illegal Armenian workers after his threat to
do so sparked a barrage of criticism at home and abroad.

Erdogan, however, urged Western countries to stop branding the
massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as "genocide,"
slamming such moves as attempts to "tarnish" Turkey’s honour and
"meddle" in its ties with Armenia.

The Turkish media and rights groups accused Erdogan of treating
illegal Armenians as a pawn in Ankara’s protests after his threat
earlier this week to deport thousands of impoverished Armenians
working illegally in Turkey.

But Erdogan said his remarks on Saturday were aimed "at drawing the world’s
attention to our tolerant approach towards those people" and did not
mean that "we will take such a step immediately".

Troubled relations

On Tuesday, Erdogan threatened to expel illegal Armenian workers if
foreign parliaments continued to pass such resolutions, prompting
harsh domestic criticism that his remarks damaged already troubled
peace efforts with Armenia.

Erdogan put the number of illegal Armenians in Turkey at 100,000.
Researchers, however, say that the Turkish authorities tend to inflate
the figures to put pressure on Armenia, estimating the number between
10,000 to 20,000.

Referring to about 100,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey,
Erdogan said on Tuesday: "Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens,
but we are tolerating the remaining 100,000.

"If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their
country because they are not my citizens. I don’t have to keep them in
my country."

Forced to leave their impoverished country to earn a living, thousands
of Armenians, mostly women, have settled in Turkey, mainly in
Istanbul.

Many came after an earthquake in their homeland in 1988 and work
illegally, mainly in manual jobs or as nannies and cleaning ladies,
sending remittances home.

‘Negative impact’

Erdogan blamed the genocide resolutions on the influential Armenian
diaspora in the US and Western Europe.

"We are extending our hand, but if our counterparts clench their hand
into a fist, there will be nothing we can do," he said.

"Those people make shows with those resolutions … And they harm the
Armenian people as well … And things become deadlocked.

"Those actions [on genocide resolutions] unfortunately have a negative
impact on our sincere attitudes."

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

US measure

The climate was further inflamed this month when the US House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved a non-binding resolution branding the
massacres of Armenians a genocide, with the Swedish parliament
following 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.

Parliaments in several other countries have also recognised the mass
killings as genocide in the past.

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