TURKEY: A WARNING FOR ARMENIANS
New York Times
March 18 2010
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has threatened to expel
thousands of illegal Armenian immigrants after American and Swedish
lawmakers passed resolutions condemning as genocide the mass killings
of Armenians early in the last century. Turkey, which is predominantly
Muslim, warned that the votes could hurt a fragile effort to reconcile
with Armenia, which is predominantly Christian, after a century of
hostility. Asked about the votes in an interview with the BBC Turkish
service that was broadcast late on Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan said: "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."