AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 20 2010

Erdogan says media distorted Armenia remarks

20-03-2010 07:50:35

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the
international media have distorted his remarks on the Armenians
illegally living and working in Turkey.

Erdogan said in an interview with the BBC last week that the 100,000
Armenians living in Turkey illegally could be deported. He made the
statement in protest at the adoption of the so-called Armenian
genocide resolutions by a number of parliaments.
Turkish Haberturk newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying that the media
have left out the word `illegally’ in an effort to make a row. He said
there was a huge difference between the phrases `deportation of
Armenians’ and `deportation of illegally living Armenians’.
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4
endorsed the `genocide’ resolution with a 23-22 vote. The bill is now
expected to go to the 435-member House. About a week later, Sweden’s
parliament, by a vote of 131-130, backed a resolution on the alleged
genocide, a claim that Turkey resolutely rejects. *