TURKEY THREATENS TO DEPORT ARMENIANS FOR TALKING ABOUT DEPORTATIONS
Gawker.com
/turkey-threatens-to-deport-armenians-for-talking- about-deportations
March 17 2010
The fight over what to officially call the Armenian genocide after WW1
is heating up, with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan threatening
to kick out 100,000 Armenians currently living in the country.
Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington last month over the House
Foreign Affairs Committee’s decision to label the disputed killings
as genocide. Erdogan yesterday told BBC’s Turkish service:
"There are currently 170,000 Armenians living in our country. 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."
Nobel Prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk nearly went to jail
for "insulting Turkishness" by making statements about the Armenian
genocide. The charges were dropped after international outcry and
pressure from the EU forced Turkey’s hand.