Southeast European Times
March 21 2010
Erdogan has no immediate plans to expel Armenians
21/03/2010
ANKARA, Turkey — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday
(March 20th) that he has no immediate plans to expel illegal Armenian
workers. Earlier this week, he stated in an interview with the BBC’s
Turkish service that some 100,000 illegal immigrants from Armenia
might be sent home. Speaking at a gathering of Turkish artists in
Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan pointed out that his statement was meant
to attract the attention of the international community to his
country’s "tolerant approach" to Armenians, adding he did not mean
that such a step would be immediate. Erdogan said Turkey will continue
to deal with the illegal immigrants issue humanely and urged Western
countries to stop branding the 1915 killing of Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Erdogan’s statement about the possible deportation of Armenians
sparked criticism both at home and abroad. On Friday, some 150 people
gathered in Istanbul in a demonstration organised by an NGO defending
the rights of immigrants. (AFP, CNN Turk, Hurriyet – 20/03/10)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
