Erdogan to meet Armenian community leaders in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to meet with Armenian community leaders in Turkey on Friday, Today's Zaman reported.



Erdogan's decision came amid growing criticism in Turkey over his latest remarks on the possibility of deporting illegal Armenian workers from the country. Erdogan said while on a visit to the UK on March 16 that Turkey could send 100,000 Armenians who are working in the country without the required permission.



"Look, there are 170,000 Armenians in my country - 70,000 of them are my citizens, but we are [tolerating] 100,000 of them [illegally] in our country. So, what will we do tomorrow? If it is necessary, I will tell them, 'Come on, back to your country.' I will do it. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country. I mean these are [defenders of the Armenian claims of genocide]. Their attitude is negatively affecting our sincere attitude, and they are not aware of it," Erdogan said in an interview with the BBC last week.



Following his remarks in the UK, intellectuals harshly criticized Erdogan for having deviated from his government's general approach to ethnic and religious communities in Turkey.



"We have never had any problems with our Armenian citizens," Erdogan later said. He complained that he was misquoted in the media, which he said misrepresented his remarks to mean that they were targeting Turkey's Armenian community.