Turkey’s president has threatened to expel 100,000 Armenian immigrants after the US and Sweden nd Sweden agreed to describe first world war killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.
Earlier this month, the US House committee on foreign affairs voted by 23-22 that the massacre of around 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 should be classified as genocide.
Turkey, a NATO member and candidate to join the European Union, withdrew its ambassador from the US in the wake of the vote, as it did from Sweden days later, when the Swedish parliament also agreed the slaughter should be described as genocide.
Turkey warned the decisions could undermine efforts at reconciliation with Armenia after decades of hostility, and yesterday, President Tayyip Erdogan gave a clear warning what the consequences would be if the votes, which are non-binding, were ratified.
“There are currently 170,000 Armenians living in our country. Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are tolerating the remaining 100,000,” he told the BBC Turkish service.
“If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their country because they are not my citizens. I don’t have to keep them in my country.”
Erdogan’s threat to expel tens of thousands of immigrants was criticized by the Armenian Prime Minister, Tigran Sarksyan.
“This kind of political statement does not help improve relations between the two states,” he said.
Turkey’s reaction to the US vote in particular has led to speculation that the country may prevent the US army’s use of the Incirlik air base in south-east Turkey, which provides logistical support to troops travelling to and from Iraq.
