DigitalJournal.com
March 20 2010

Opinion: Turkish PM Erdogan’s threat terrorizes Armenians
By R. C. Camphausen.

It seems that Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey went one bridge too far
with his attempt to blackmail Sweden and the US into not classifying
the Armenian genocide as genocide. Now it looks like he’s crawling
back, claiming he was misunderstood.
When an Armenian historian, Mr Papian, says on PanARMENIAN.Net, that
the recent statements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
prove that "Turkish society is sick" and that "his utterances reveal
the Turkish population’s thoughts,’ no one will be very much
surprised. Armenians, after what they have suffered in the past, can
hardly be expected to be either neutral or objective.

Even in Turkey itself there were a few demonstrations against the PM.
However small these protests, it is significant that they occurred at
all in the country, triggered by his open threat to expel circa
100,000 Armenians from Turkey. Erdogan now claims that the media has
distorted his threat, while it is clear that media and politicians
worldwide have perfectly understood what he was trying to do.

The PM’s threat to expel all Armenians who are not naturalized
citizens of Turkey, came too soon after first the United States and
then Sweden voted for motions to classify Turkey’s treatment of
Armenians between 1915 and 1917 as genocide – something the PM calls
`baseless genocide claims" although there are more countries who have
long since used the term genocide for this part of Turkish-Armenian
history.

Turkey, however, or at least this PM, doesn’t like the term, and
Erdogan has repeatedly tried his best to warn off nations to use it.
On Azbarez,com, for example, he is quoted as saying that third
countries should "be constructive and responsible" [because] `all
initiatives that deteriorate the [normalization] process will carry a
heavy cost ` [not to] Turkey but [to] the creators and supporters of
those malicious initiatives.’

In other words, if someone calls a genocide a genocide, it’s a
malicious initiative that may come at a heavy cost. Also elsewhere,
Erdogan used the words `You will pay for this.’ IN truth, the whole
affair is an attempt to blackmail the US into not accepting the
genocide resolution, because – besides deporting the Armenians –
Turkey could close it’s borders and not allow anymore logistical
supplies for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a draft resolution on the very same Armenian Genocide was
also introduced to the Bulgarian Parliament, where it will be decided
sometimes next week. An unofficial (and not well done) translation of
the Bulgarian motion can be found here.
The whole discussion has the 100,000 ‘undocumented’ Armenians in
present day Turkey live in fear. The Turkish PM’s words have
terrorized them.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress