Turkey’s Prime Minister has raised the stakes in an international row over the mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey by threatening to expel 100,000 Armenians living in the country.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that action could be taken if foreign parliaments continued to increase the pressure by recognising the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide.
“In my country there are 170,000 Armenians; 70,000 of them are citizens. We tolerate 100,000 more. So, what am I going to do tomorrow? If necessary I will tell the 100,000: okay, time to go back to your country. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country,” he said, during a visit to London this week.
He also warned the Armenian diaspora that its campaign to have the genocide recognised by foreign parliaments would jeopardise improved ties between Turkey and Armenia.
Mr Erdogan was to have travelled on to Sweden but he cancelled the visit at the last moment and recalled Turkey’s Ambassador to Stockholm. The protest moves were taken after Sweden’s Parliament voted to join the list of nearly 20 countries that accuses Ottoman Turks of genocide over the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians during the First World War.
Ankara also recalled its ambassador to Washington this month after a US Foreign Affairs Committee passed a genocide resolution . Armenia condemned Mr Erdogan’s comments, saying that it revived memories of the original killings — many of which happened during mass deportations of Armenians accused of supporting the invading Russian army.
“These kinds of statements do not help to improve relations between our two states. When the Turkish Prime Minister allows himself to make such statements it brings up memories of the events of 1915,” Tigran Sarkisian, the Armenian Prime Minister, said.
Turkey rejects the accusations. Ankara insists that hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Muslim Turks died during civil strife in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Although Mr Erdogan made his remarks in London, the matter was not raised during his meeting with Gordon Brown. Britain has kept out of the row, calling only on the two countries to work to normalise their relationship. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday: “Terrible suffering was inflicted on Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century. But the main concern of this Government is not what we call such horrific events but ensuring that the lessons are learnt, and relationships are re-built to ensure a peaceful and secure future for everyone living the region.”
Pressure on Ankaras is, however, mounting. Other countries are expected to pass genocide resolutions before the centenary of the killings in 2015. Many members of the European Union, which Turkey wishes to join, including France, Germany and Italy, already recognise the events as genocide. Even in Britain, which Mr Erdogan’s aides say is “too smart” to get involved, Parliament is expected to debate a genocide Bill next month.
The number of illegal Armenians in Turkey is a matter of debate, with a study conducted last year claiming that the figure could be as low as 10,000. Around half slipped into Turkey in 1988 in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit Armenia. Others are exiles from Armenia’s ailing post-Soviet economy.
Turkish politicians have in the past threatened to throw out these Armenians in retaliation for international recognition of the genocide but this is the first time that the threat has come from the country’s leader.
His outburst probably had more to do with domestic political pressure than foreign policy. Having defied domestic opinion to champion a policy of reconciliation with Armenia Mr Erdogan finds himself accused at home of enfeebling Turkey on the international stage.Elections are due by July 2011 and Mr Erdogan is fighting a rear-guard action against nationalist parties on the left and the right.
