ERDOGAN TO MEET ARMENIAN COMMUNITY LEADERS ON FRIDAY

Armradio.am
24.03.2010 11:02

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to meet with Armenian
community leaders living in Turkey on Friday, Today’s Zaman reports.

Erdogan’s decision came amid growing criticism in Turkey over his
latest remarks on the possibility of deporting illegal Armenian workers
in the country if necessary. Erdogan said while on a visit to the UK
on March 16 that Turkey could send 100,000 Armenian workers who are
working in the country without the required permission back to Armenia.

"Look, there are 170,000 Armenians in my country — 70,000 of them are
my citizens, but we are [tolerating] 100,000 of them [illegally] in
our country. So, what will we do tomorrow? If it is necessary, I will
tell them, ‘Come on, back to your country.’ I will do it. Why? They
are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country. I
mean these are [defenders of the Armenian claims of genocide]. Their
attitude is negatively affecting our sincere attitude, and they are
not aware of it," Erdogan said in an interview with the BBC last week.

Following his remarks in the UK, intellectuals harshly criticized
Erdogan for having deviated from his government’s general approach
to ethnic and religious communities in Turkey.

"We have never had any problems with our Armenian citizens," Erdogan
later said. He complained that he was misquoted in the media, which
he said misrepresented his remarks to mean that they were targeting
Turkey’s Armenian community.
From: Baghdasarian