March 20, 2010 - 11:59 AMT
AAE calls on European countries to condemn Turkey
The Assembly of Armenians of Europe (AAE) has slammed Turkish Prime Minister's recent statement on possible deportation of 100 thousand illegal Armenian migrants.

"This fact proves that Turkey exercises xenophobia and intolerant attitude towards Armenians. It's surprising that the head of a country whose illegal immigrants live across Europe dares to make such a statement. We call on the European community to condemn it and take action to clarify the situation with human rights in Turkey. We also call on all European states to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide," the AAE said.

"There are 170 thousand Armenians living in Turkey. 70 thousand of them are Turkish citizens. If necessary, I will tell the remaining 100 thousand to leave. I can do so because they are not Turkish citizens and I'm not obliged to keep them in my country," Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this week.

The fierce reaction of the Turkish PM came after the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution, H.Res.252, by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4 and passage of a resolution recognizing the Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians/Syrians/Chaldeans and Pontic Greeks y the Swedish parliament on March 11.