Turks Protest Erdogan’s Armenian Deportation Threat

13:39 – 20.03.10

More than 100 protesters took to the streets of Istanbul Friday,
accusing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of racism over
his threat to deport illegal Armenian migrants, reports The Montreal
Gazette, citing AFP.

Between 100-150 demonstrators marched along Istiklal Avenue, carrying
banners with the inscription "You are not alone" in Turkish, English,
Armenian and Kurdish, an AFP photographer said.

"Tayyip should be deported! A world without nations, borders and
classes," chanted the demonstrators gathered due to an appeal by an
NGO campaigning for immigrants’ rights.

A statement, distributed to the press, accused Erdogan of treating
Armenian immigrants as a pawn in Ankara’s protests against some
foreign parliament’s recognition of Armenian claims of genocide by
Ottoman Turks.

"We strongly condemn Erdogan… and those who share his racist and
discriminatory mentality," the statement added.

The demonstration ended peacefully.

Photograph by: Bulent Kilic, AFP/Getty Images

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