PM’S REMARKS WORRY ARMENIAN MIGRANTS IN TURKEY
Hurriyet
March 19 2010
Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. DHA photo
The Turkish prime minister’s recent suggestion that undocumented
citizens of Armenia may have to be deported has raised fears among
Armenian workers living in Turkey.
Many migrants send the money they earn in Turkey to their families
in Armenia, supporting that country’s economy.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments to journalists in London
on Tuesday came after a U.S. Congressional committee and the Swedish
parliament accepted claims of "genocide" regarding the incidents of
1915. The prime minister claimed that there are 100,000 undocumented
Armenians working in Turkey and that Ankara has so far tolerated them.
"So what will I do tomorrow? If necessary, I will tell them ‘come on,
back to your country’… I’m not obliged to keep them in my country.
Those actions [on genocide resolutions] unfortunately have a negative
impact on our sincere attitudes," Agence France-Presse quoted him
as saying.
According to a study by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, there
are anywhere between 6,000 and 70,000 people from Armenia residing
in Turkey. A journalist from the weekly Agos estimated the number of
Armenians working in Turkey at between 12,000 and 14,000, based on
Ministry of Labor statistics.
Speaking to daily Radikal, Karina, an Armenian citizen working in
Istanbul’s Kumkapı district, said she is worried about the statement.
Karina, who declined to give her surname, has been living with a
tourist visa in Turkey for the past five years. "Deportation will be
bad for me economically and socially," she said.
Making a living
Others speaking to daily Radikal also said they had to work in Turkey
to make a living.
Armen, who also refrained from giving his surname, said he has a
life in Turkey and does not want to leave that behind. "Even if
the police come to me with a knife in their hands, I will not leave
here," he said. "I am married. My children are with me and we are
all right here."
According to recent research, there are around 800 children who were
born in Turkey to Armenian parents who live undocumented in the
country. These children are in a legal limbo, citizens of neither
nation.
"If I am deported, I will find a way to return to Turkey," said Giyma
Harutunyan, who has been living in Turkey for the past five years.
Yura Sarkisyan, 70, who is involved in the "shuttle trade," told
Radikal: "It is the politicians who make this thing complicated. There
is no good in bringing up events that happened a long time ago. We
do not want to leave. We are thankful to all the Turkish people."
Some undocumented Armenians, however, said they would leave if they
were no longer wanted in Turkey. A.N., 37, identified only by her
initials, said she loved Turkey and has lived here for four years now,
daily Hurriyet reported Thursday. "But if they want, we will leave. We
are here because the chance to find a job in Armenia is small. This
is our country’s fault," said A.N., who works as a salesperson in
Istanbul’s Aksaray district.
M.H., 43, also identified only by her initials, has worked as
babysitter for four years in Turkey. She said plans to go back to
Armenia within one or two years. "People should not suffer due to
politics. We have a life here," she said.
The other side of the coin
T.Z., 28, identified only by her initials, told Hurriyet she was a
student of Russian literature before she came to Turkey. "I work in
a textile firm here," she said. "My husband lives in Armenia. I want
him to come here, too."
T.Z. said the prime minister’s statements irked her. "Hundreds of
thousands of Turks are working in Europe illegally," she said. "Turkey
should not forget that."
Haygazun Alvrstyan, an academic from Yerevan State University, told
the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday that Erdogan’s
statements are a disturbing reminder of history. "[They again want]
Armenians to be deported. It is a shame that this statement is made
by a prime minister," he said.
The academic added that there are only about 10,000 Armenian citizens
in Turkey, saying Erdogan is exaggerating the figure in order to
"coerce the European Union and the U.S. not to approve resolutions
on genocide claims."
Siranuys Dvyoan, a professor in Armenia, said undocumented workers
are not just Armenia’s problem, noting that Turks work in various
countries in a similar fashion. "Turkey is trying to display Armenia
as a poor country in the world," she said.
Tevan Poghosyan, from the Yerevan-based International Center of Human
Development, said Erdogan is trying to distract attention from the
genocide issue.
Vercihan Ziflioglu contributed to this report from Istanbul