The Australian
March 19, 2010 Friday
1 – All-round Country Edition

Turkish PM’s threat to expel Armenians

The Ottoman genocide in World War I still haunts the modern state

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s Prime Minister has bought into an international row
over the mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey by threatening to
expel 100,000 Armenians living in the country.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned yesterday that action could be taken if
foreign parliaments continued to recognise the massacre of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide.

“In my country there are 170,000 Armenians; 70,000 of them are
citizens. We tolerate 100,000 more. So what am I going to do tomorrow?
If necessary, I will tell the 100,000: OK, time to go back to your
country. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them
in my country,” he said while in London.

He also warned the Armenian diaspora that its campaign to have the
genocide recognised by foreign parliaments would jeopardise improved
ties between Turkey and Armenia.

Mr Erdogan was to have travelled on to Sweden but he cancelled the
visit and recalled Turkey’s ambassador after Sweden’s parliament voted
to join the nearly 20 countries accusing Ottoman Turks of genocide
over the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.

Ankara also recalled its ambassador to Washington this month after a
US foreign affairs committee passed a genocide resolution. Armenia
condemned Mr Erdogan’s comments, saying it revived memories of the
original killings — many of which happened during deportations of
Armenians accused of supporting the invading Russian army.

“These kinds of statements do not help to improve relations between
our two states. When the Turkish Prime Minister allows himself to make
such statements, it brings up memories of the events of 1915,”
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said.

Turkey rejects the accusations. Ankara insists that hundreds of
thousands of Armenians and Muslim Turks died during civil strife in
the final days of the Ottoman empire.

Other countries are expected to pass genocide resolutions before the
centenary of the killings in 2015. Many members of the European Union,
which Turkey wishes to join, including France, Germany and Italy,
already recognise the events as genocide. Even in Britain, which Mr
Erdogan’s aides say is “too smart” to get involved, parliament is
expected to debate a genocide bill next month.

The number of illegal Armenians in Turkey is a matter of debate, with
a study conducted last year claiming the figure could be as low as
10,000. Around half slipped into Turkey in 1988 in the aftermath of
the devastating earthquake that hit Armenia. Others are exiles from
Armenia’s ailing post-Soviet economy.

Turkish politicians have in the past threatened to throw out Armenians
in retaliation for international recognition of the genocide but this
is the first time the threat has come from the leader.

His outburst probably had more to do with domestic political pressure
than foreign policy. Having defied domestic opinion to champion a
policy of reconciliation with Armenia, Mr Erdogan finds himself
accused at home of enfeebling Turkey on the international stage.
Elections are due by July next year and Mr Erdogan is fighting a
rearguard action against nationalist parties on the Left and the
Right.