Turkish PM threatens to expel illegal Armenians

The Irish Times

March 18, 2010 Thursday

ANKARA Turkey s prime minister has threatened to expel thousands of
illegal Armenian immigrants after US and Swedish lawmakers passed
votes branding the first World War-era killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Muslim Turkey, a Nato member and candidate to join the European Union,
recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Stockholm earlier this
month after the non-binding votes and warned they could hurt a fragile
effort to reconcile with Christian Armenia after a century of
hostility.

Asked about the votes in an interview with the BBC Turkish service,
prime minister Tayyip Erdogan said: There are currently 170,000
Armenians living in our country. 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.

Commentators have said the US vote could affect Washington s use of
the Incirlik Air base in southeast Turkey, which provides vital
logistical support for US troops going to and from Iraq.

Mr Erdogan s comments were met with a stern reaction from Armenia.
This kind of political statement does not help improve relations
between the two states, said prime minister Tigran Sarksyan. I agree
with the assessment that when the Turkish prime minister allows
himself to make such statements, the events of 1915 immediately return
to our memory, he added.

Thousands of illegal Armenian immigrants, mostly women from the
impoverished countryside, work as cleaning ladies and in other
low-skilled jobs in Istanbul, where many settled after an earthquake
in their homeland in 1988.

The exact number of Armenian immigrants in Turkey is unknown. But
Turkish-Armenian groups say Turkish politicians inflate numbers of
illegal workers and threaten expulsions whenever tensions escalate
between Ankara and Yerevan.

Mr Erdogan said Armenian immigrants had been allowed to work in Turkey
as a display of our peaceful approach, but we have to get something in
return .

Aris Nalci, an editor at Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos, said
it was not the first time Mr Erdogan had made such remarks. We are not
taking it as a serious threat, he said.

Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia signed historic accords last year
to establish diplomatic ties and open their border. But the deal has
yet to be ratified by their respective parliaments and the governments
have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts.

Mr Erdogan s comments could further strain the process of normalising
ties that have been burdened by the deportation and killing of
Armenians during the chaotic end of the Ottoman empire almost a
century ago.

Mr Sarksyan said the issue of illegal immigrants should be solved
through diplomacy and for that to happen the two countries should
normalise relations.

The deportation threats will be frowned upon by European governments
that have voiced support for Turkey s EU bid, and have backed the
peace accords with Armenia. Suat Kiniklioglu, foreign affairs
spokesman for the ruling AK Party, played down Mr Erdogan s statement,
saying the premier felt the need to remind the public about Armenians
living illegally in Turkey. He said Mr Erdogan was not talking about
something that would happen today or tomorrow .