Turkey's official figures quite different: Erdogan unaware of official data?
The Armenian Migration Agency at the Ministry of Territorial Administration receives data on Armenian citizens residing in Turkey from the website of Turkey’s National Statistical Service. The official numbers are quite different, the head of the agency Gagik Yeganyan told Panorama.am in response to Erdogan’s statement in London over 100,000 Armenians living in Turkey illegally.
According to Yeganyan, the numbers available at the website of Turkey’s National Statistical Service show as to how many Armenians came to and left Turkey, the number making 5000 in the period of the years 2000-2009.
“There is no information as to before the year of 2000 and I don’t think, the flow would have been that big before that, especially that Armenians has bigger concerns over Turkey then. Anyway, the numbers of the recent years say nothing about the figures stated by Erdogan,” Yeganyan highlighted.
According to him, Erdogan has made the fact of the Armenian citizens residing in Turkey a subject to political bargain.