15:51 17/03/2010 » Politics

Expert says Erdogan’s statement tells much about attitude to national minorities

“Turkey isn’t an organized country. It’s an Eastern country and they don’t know exactly how many Armenians live there and where generally they are located,” Artak Shaqaryan, the manager of “Armenia-Turkey” Eurasia cooperation foundation project told Panorama.am.
He said Russians, Azerbaijanis, Moldavians as well as citizens from Northern Africa live next to Armenians in Turkey.
It’s worth reminding that Turkish PM Erdogan declared referring to about 100,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey that Ankara has so far tolerated, he said: "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.
Shaqaryan reminded that Turkish Armenian Alin Ozinyan stated earlier that the official figure of Armenians living in Turkey is exaggerated by the high ranking officials.

“Armenians living in Turkey are not hundred percent citizens of that state; they are just authorized to live there. This tells much about the attitude the state has towards the national minorities in Turkey,” expert said. 

Source: Panorama.am

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