TURKEY IN THREAT TO EXPEL ARMENIANS
Al-Jazeera
/news/europe/2010/03/2010317142257170804.html
Marc h 17 2010
Qatar
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has threatened to expel
thousands of illegal Armenian workers amid tensions over allegations
that their people were victims of genocide under the Ottoman Empire.
Resolutions voted recently in the United States and Sweden to brand
the World War I killings as genocide undermined peace efforts with
Armenia, Erdogan told the BBC Turkish service.
Referring to about 100,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey out
of a total of 170,000 living there, Erdogan said: "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."
Forced to leave their impoverished country to earn a living, thousands
of Armenians, mostly women, have settled in Turkey, mainly in Istanbul.
Many came after an earthquake in their homeland in 1988 and work
illegally, mainly in manual jobs or as nannies and cleaning ladies,
sending remittances home.
"So what will I do tomorrow? If necessary, I will tell them ‘come on,
back to your country’."
‘Negative impact’
Erdogan blamed the genocide resolutions on the influential Armenian
diaspora in the US and Western Europe.
"We are extending our hand, but if our counterparts clench their hand
into a fist, there will be nothing we can do," he said.
"Those people make shows with those resolutions … And they harm
the Armenian people as well … And things become deadlocked.
"Those actions [on genocide resolutions] unfortunately have a negative
impact on our sincere attitudes."
Following Swiss-brokered talks to end decades of enmity, Turkey and
Armenia signed an accord in October to establish diplomatic ties and
open their border.
The process, however, has hit snags, with both countries accusing
each other of lacking true commitment to the deal.
US measure
The climate was further inflamed this month when the US House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved a non-binding resolution branding the
massacres of Armenians a genocide, with the Swedish parliament
following suit last week.
Turkey recalled its ambassadors from both countries, warning that
bilateral ties and reconciliation efforts with Armenia would suffer.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in a systematic
extermination campaign during World War I as the Ottoman Empire
fell apart.
Turkey counters that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians, and at
least as many Turks, were killed in civil strife when Armenians rose
up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.
Parliaments in several other countries have also recognised the mass
killings as genocide in the past.