Advice To erdogan

[Arpa]

Come ladies and gentlemen, let's play a game.

With all those "big foot in big mouth"

http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/original/patterson_bigfoot.jpg

blabbers by erboghan and his side kicks, offending and threatening Washington, Telaviv, Stockholm, Paris and London ... etc. How long do you think before there will be a "military coup d'etat" in furkey, hopefully a bloody one?

And when that happens shortly, can I be recognized as a "propeht"?

Edited March 20, 2010 by Arpa

[Yervant1]

Come ladies and gentlemen, let's play a game.

With all those "big foot in big mouth"

http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/original/patterson_bigfoot.jpg

blabbers by erboghan and his side kicks, offending and threatening Washington, Telaviv, Stockholm, Paris and London ... etc. How long do you think before there will be a "military coup d'etat" in furkey, hopefully a bloody one?

And when that happens shortly, can I be recognized as a "propeht"?

I hope it never happens, I don't like the military and what it will bring. Erdogan is good for us! Can you imagine anyone else keeping the AG alive like a sour thumb in their side beside him?

The military will bring old alliances back to life, which not good for us.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Turkish Premier smoothing over his statement

 

 

http://news.am/en/news/17078.html

 

At a conference attended by the heads of regional chapters of the Justice and Development Party, Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan, the party leader, addressed his statements about the deportation of 100,000 illegal Armenian immigrants, which evoked a violent response both in Turkey and worldwide. Premier Erdogan severely criticized the journalists slating him.

 

He said that Turkey's first step to resuming air communication with Armenia. The Turkish Premier called on some journalists "teaching humanity" to Turkey to perform their "functions as advocates" properly. "First of all, you are advocates of the Turkish people. Let them look in the mirror first and then write. We have renovated the church on Akhtamar Island without receiving anyone's order. They do not see. There has not been any problem with Armenian citizens in our country. We are now trying to get the Syrians that left our country to return to Turkey. They do not see that either," the Turkish Premier said. He stated that he by 'deporting Armenians from the country' he meant illegal immigrants. Erdogan expressed his regret that mass media misinterpreted his words. He reminded the attendees that he is the first Turkish Premier that has clearly stated Turkey's attitude to national minorities. Addressing those urging him to apologize, the Turkish Premier stated that the Turkish leaders know very well who they should apologize to. "It is most important for me that my nation have what is becoming to it," Erdogan said.

 

The Turkish Premier is well aware that the word "illegal" in the phrase "deporting 100,000 illegal Armenian migrants" does not matter. What matters is the word "deporting." "Deporting," which is close to the Turkish spirit, "mass deportation," as one of his fathers, Talaat would say. As regards media outlets, most of them accurately quoted Mr. Erdogan. As to the third-rate mass media, their reports by no means justify the Turkish Premier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking Dictation, Turkish Style

 

by Elcin Poyrazlar

 

Huffington Post

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elcin-poyrazlar/taking-dictation-turkish_b_506483.html

 

 

 

I am a journalist. According to some people in the Turkish government, my job description should include submitting to everything, even gracefully allowing politicians to spit at me and my like. I should not revolt, I should not criticize and I should not complain. Like an increasing number of journalists, columnists, editors, and writers in Turkey, I should stomach or even applaud such treatment.

 

While Turkey's ruling AKP party is coming ever closer to absolute power, the country's freedom of the press is on the rack. The State Department's annual Human Rights Report, issued last week, underlines the Turkish government's ever tighter restrictions on such fundamental liberties. The report spells out how journalists are regularly harassed by prosecutors who bring dozens of cases against them and how the authorities ordered raids of newspaper offices, closed newspapers, issued them with fines or confiscated them.

 

There is barely a single day when Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan doesn't lash out at the media. According to him, we, the journalists, are responsible for instability in the country, because we talk too much about it. In his recent attack Erdogan blamed the media for Turkey's political and economic unrest and called on media company bosses to fire columnists who point out problems in the country. He said: "You cannot say, 'I cannot intervene in what the columnist writes.' Nobody has a right to increase tension in this country. I cannot let such articles upset the financial balances."

 

These unfortunate statements came as no surprise when the AKP's authoritarian tendencies are on the rise. Turkey's biggest media group Dogan Yayin Holding was fined $2.5 billion last year after a row with the government over a corruption news story, and the other media bosses are now shivering with fear.

 

Along with the calls for censorship and financial threats to the media, Turkish government officials have also resorted to sleazy rhetoric. Not long ago Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc gave us a sublime example. He spat at the media!

 

Arinc criticised the coverage of a police search of a public prosecutor's office in the town of Erzincan. So upset was the sensitive Mr Arinc about the use of the word "raid" to describe the police's action in media accounts that he made a spitting sound as he exclaimed, in the general direction of the media: "Ptui you all!"

 

That was indeed the cherry on the cake.

 

It looks like the Turkish government`s "raid" on the media is not going to end until all the journalists are brought into the same line, the AKP line. And the birds of different colours will be cruelly shunned. Still, I cannot shut my mouth. I am a journalist after all. An outraged one.

 

 

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

 

Turkish PM Erdogan's threat terrorizes Armenians

 

 

Digital Journal

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/289330

 

by R. C. Camphausen

 

 

 

It seems that Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey went one bridge too far with his attempt to blackmail Sweden and the US into not classifying the Armenian genocide as genocide. Now it looks like he's crawling back, claiming he was misunderstood. When an Armenian historian, Mr Papian, says on PanARMENIAN.Net, that the recent statements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan prove that "Turkish society is sick" and that "his utterances reveal the Turkish population’s thoughts,” no one will be very much surprised. Armenians, after what they have suffered in the past, can hardly be expected to be either neutral or objective. Even in Turkey itself there were a few demonstrations against the PM. However small these protests, it is significant that they occurred at all in the country, triggered by his open threat to expel circa 100,000 Armenians from Turkey. Erdogan now claims that the media has distorted his threat, while it is clear that media and politicians worldwide have perfectly understood what he was trying to do.

 

 

 

The PM's threat to expel all Armenians who are not naturalized citizens of Turkey, came too soon after first the United States and then Sweden voted for motions to classify Turkey's treatment of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 as genocide - something the PM calls “baseless genocide claims" although there are more countries who have long since used the term genocide for this part of Turkish-Armenian history. Turkey, however, or at least this PM, doesn't like the term, and Erdogan has repeatedly tried his best to warn off nations to use it. On Azbarez,com, for example, he is quoted as saying that third countries should "be constructive and responsible" [because] “all initiatives that deteriorate the [normalization] process will carry a heavy cost – [not to] Turkey but [to] the creators and supporters of those malicious initiatives.” In other words, if someone calls a genocide a genocide, it's a malicious initiative that may come at a heavy cost. Also elsewhere, Erdogan used the words “You will pay for this.” IN truth, the whole affair is an attempt to blackmail the US into not accepting the genocide resolution, because - besides deporting the Armenians - Turkey could close it's borders and not allow anymore logistical supplies for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a draft resolution on the very same Armenian Genocide was also introduced to the Bulgarian Parliament, where it will be decided sometimes next week. An unofficial (and not well done) translation of the Bulgarian motion can be found here. The whole discussion has the 100,000 'undocumented' Armenians in present day Turkey live in fear. The Turkish PM's words have terrorized them.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Here we go again. Typical turkish behavior. They blame others for thier own mistakes.

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Erdogan purges and condemns Armenian Diaspora again

 

 

Radio Liberty

http://news.am/en/news/17153.html

 

 

In the course of his meeting with Turkish theatre workers and cinematographers, country’s Premier Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan touched upon responses to his London statement.

 

Erdogan again opposed putting Armenian Genocide issue on the parliamentary agenda of a third country and advised not to intervene into Turkey’s relations with neighbors.

 

“We are not speaking of our citizens or refugees. My London statement was made to invite international community’s attention to our tolerance. We consider this issue from the goodwill viewpoint. We have always been and are tolerant to the needy. This is becoming to a great nation. To date we have never exacted an account from Armenians and Armenia for incorrect behavior of their Diaspora. Our goodwill should not be perceived wrongly.

 

Armenian Diaspora had never acted in favour of Armenia and Armenian people. They are very rich, but do not aid Armenia, that is in want. Today people leave Armenia for Russia and other states, as their life there is very poor. Prime Minister Putin told me about this in person. He also said that each year 200.000 Armenians move to Russia. Use of the word &‘displacement’ relating to my statement is irrelevant,” Erdogan concluded.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

Erdogan became jest for world media

 

 

Radio Liberty

 

http://news.am/en/news/17145.html

 

 

 

Erdogan’s words that media misinterpreted his statement on deportation of 100.000 illegal Armenians from the country, aroused sarcasm of foreign media.

 

German Der Tagesspiegel refers to CNNTurk’s ironic quotation: “The guilty are found – it’s media representatives,” Erdogan said. The paper then recalls that this is not the first indignation of public entailed by Turkish Premier’s words, who is deprived of elementary diplomatic etiquette. Nonetheless, the publication outlines that his threats on deportation of Armenians might come true, as it will kill Ankara’s efforts in relations’ normalization with Armenia and incite the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide dramatically.

 

“Erdogan became known for his ignorance of diplomatic terms. From time to time he allows himself statements lacking any tact. Turkey is used to his &‘high’ word-style and some politicians return him accordingly. However, his &‘style’ can harm Turkey’s foreign policy dramatically,” the source reads recalling Erdogan’s impudent words to Israel, groundless attacks at Germany concerning the Turkish emigrants, silly accusations against China on committing genocide against Uigurs.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

'Outbreaks of xenophobia are widespread in Turkey'

 

 

 

The Assembly of Armenians of Europe has issued a statement, condemning Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said Tuesday in an interview with BBC that would expel 100,000 Armenians from Turkey.

 

“This statement by Prime Minister Erdogan shows that outbreaks of xenophobia are widespread even in modern Turkey, and in particular, it shows Turkey’s intolerance for Armenians,” said in the statement.

 

“It’s surprising that such a statement was made by a leader of a country, whose most citizens are illegally and undocumented living in the European countries.

 

“And what is more surprising that a country with such approach and position is seeking for accession to the European Union.

 

“We are calling for the European community to condemn Erdogan’s statement and take steps in this situation, which violates human rights and shows intolerance for other peoples in Turkey.

 

“We are calling for all European nations to make commitments to universal human values and recognize the 1915 Genocide,” said in the statement.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

Erdogan threatens Armenians: "You will pay for this"

 

Panorama.am

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2010/03/20/erdoghan1/

 

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised a number of inner-political and foreign policy issues at a Justice and Development Party (AK PARTY) sitting, Hurriyet reported.

 

According to the source, Erdogan particularly referred to the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey’s PM threatened the Armenians making efforts towards the recognition, saying: “You will pay for this.”

 

Once again Erdogan expressed discontent over submitting the Armenian Genocide Resolution for a parliament vote by some countries. “I call on Armenia and third countries to take up a constructive disposition. Any initiative to complicate the process will cost much. Though, it’s not Turkey and the Turkish people to pay but the authors of the initiatives and their supporters,” PM said.

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Apology "Turkish Way"

 

 

 

Sooner or later Turkey will have to do what she has avoided for about 100 years. Apparently Erdogan did not expect such an outcry on the part of his own people and had to apologize, though in a “Turkish way”.19.03.2010 Let us leave aside the comments and hailstorm of fury on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement about “deportation of 100 thousand illegal immigrants from Armenia”. Any move of a politician, especially one like Erdogan, pursues a certain goal; in this particular case we can assume it is as much directed to the Armenian Diaspora as it is for domestic use. However, Erdogan could not expect such a sharp reaction across the world, including Turkey./PanARMENIAN.Net/ But if we look at all this from another perspective, it turns out that Erdogan was driven into a corner, or rather, he drove himself into there, and is now uncertain about how to get out. The statements that came from Ankara on different levels last week, indicate that Turkey is really at a loss, and it’s not only about the adopted resolutions on the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the entire political elite realize that to stop the process is a vain effort now. Little time is left till April 24, and nothing effective can be undertaken but withdrawal of ambassadors or blackmail. Another possible step Ankara can take is to accept the inevitable and sign the Zurich Protocols; otherwise she will once again show the world that Turkey and the Ottoman Empire have much in common, no matter how hard the current and former leaders try to disown it. The Jewish lobby can’t help, either. It is now engaged in re-establishment of US-Jewish relations and has neither time nor mood to deal with Turkish problems. Ankara may get a little support from NATO for the air base “Incirlik”, but all these steps of Turkey are temporary delays and sooner or later Turkey will have to do what she has avoided for about 100 years.

 

By the way, most apparently Erdogan could not expect such an outcry on the part of his own people and had to apologize, though in a “Turkish way”. Erdogan declared his remarks about the possible deportation of 100 thousand illegal immigrants from Armenia were distorted by foreign media. The Turkish Prime Minister said he was not going to apologize for his words that were misinterpreted. A method tested and sometimes working. It has already become a tradition for Ankara to shift her guilt on others. “I address those who want to distort my words and demand apologies. We know very well who we should make an apology to,” stressed the head of the Turkish government. We wonder who, after all, Turkey will make apologies to: the descendants of one and a half million killed Armenians, the Diaspora that appeared as a result of the massacre, the Government of the Republic of Armenia, or, perhaps, all the Armenians in the world? It is unlikely that any leader of Turkey, no matter to which party he belongs, apologize to the Armenians, and therefore Erdogan’s words are nothing but an attempt to save face. “I did not mean our citizens of Armenian descent,” the Turkish Prime Minister explained, adding that in the interview to the BBC, which evoked diverse responses in Turkey, he was talking of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia who illegally live in Turkey.

 

“Unlike the local media, foreign press avoided the phrase ‘illegally residing’. We have no problems with our citizens of Armenian descent. Moreover, during our rule, we have established excellent relations with them,” Erdogan lamented. But the Prime Minister is being insincere here; all the world press used the phrase “illegal immigrants”. Well, let us leave it on the conscience of Mr. Erdogan, who also called for avoiding any action that might complicate the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. “Not we but those who complicate the process will pay the price for it,” warned the Turkish Prime Minister. And again threats, blackmail and hope that the world will “come to its senses” and will not hinder Turkey to build a “democratic society”. Turkey, a country with a “bright and unblemished history”.

 

It is worth noting that, as stated above, till April 24 all actions of Erdogan will be directed to his attempts to get out of the corner and strike back. Apparently, Turkey has not been very successful in that yet. But she may, if the world community and Armenians in particular content themselves with an “apology”... Let us hope that this time Turkey will not be able to get her own way, though history teaches that this is what happens in the end, alas.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

If Iran's Ahmadinejad was to make same kind of threats to the jews, I wonder if the reaction from Washington would have been the same

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

Assistant Secretary Gordon White-Washes Erdogan’s Threat to Deport Armenians from Turkey

 

The Armenian Weekly

By: Weekly Staff

 

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/20/assistant-secretary-gordon-white-washes-erdogan%E2%80%99s-threat-to-deport-armenians-from-turkey/

 

WASHINGTON—On march 19, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) expressed shock and disappointment at U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Phil Gordon’s remarks seeking to cover up recent threats by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to deport Armenian citizens from Turkey.

 

“Prime Minister Erdogan’s menacing threat to deport Armenians represents the most chilling evidence that Turkey, despite the best efforts of its Washington allies to whitewash its record, remains committed and to the same violent attitudes and intentions that led to the Genocide of 1915,” stated ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian. “Sec. Gordon, having already played a central role in enforcing Turkey’s gag rule within the Administration and recently in Congress, has now reached a new low, becoming a personal apologist for hateful and violence-inciting threats by Erdogan. We call upon President Obama to immediately condemn Secretary Gordon’s comments and affirm for the record that the U.S. government in no way condones renewed threats by Turkey against the Armenian people.”

 

Just weeks after the Swedish Parliament and the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan told BBC reporters, that “There are 170,000 Armenians in my country, of which 70,000 are my citizens. We’re turning a blind eye to the other 100,000. However, tomorrow, if it becomes necessary, I would say to those 100,000, go back to your country. Why? Because they’re not my citizens; I’m not obliged to keep them in my country.”

 

Despite outrage expressed by Government officials and media around the world and within Turkey, Assistant Secretary Phillip Gordon tried to explain away Erdogan’s comments as a mere statement on immigration policy. “In my opinion, Prime Minister Erdogan only wanted to highlight that there are 100,000 Armenians living in Turkey illegally. I don’t believe he threatened to deport them from the country. Those are separate issues. Every country has an issue with illegal immigrants and approaches it according to its laws,” Gordon remarked. The comment was originally reported by CNN-Turk, reprinted in the Armenian news site Tert.am, and verified by the ANCA in a conversation with State Department officials.

 

As Senator and Presidential candidate, President Obama pledged to recognize the Armenian Genocide, stating “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President.” Despite campaign statements in support of Armenian Genocide legislation, the Administration attempted and failed to block House Foreign Affairs committee passage of H.Res.252, adopted by a vote of 23-22 on March 4. Comments from unnamed Administration officials, reported widely in U.S. press that a deal had been struck between the White House and Congress to shelve the resolution were disavowed by Gordon earlier this week.

 

Congressional Support for Genocide Resolution Continues to Grow

 

Meanwhile, Congressional support for the Armenian Genocide resolution continued to grow this week, with House Education Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) the latest to add their names to the 139 cosponsors of the resolution. The Senate version of the legislation, led by Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) currently has 13 cosponsors.

 

The ANCA is continuing its “End Turkey’s Gag Rule” campaign, urging elected officials in the U.S. and around the world to reject Turkey’s attempts to silence international affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. For more information, visit http://www.anca.org/endthegagrule.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

More than 100 protest Turkish PM's Armenian deportation threat

Hurriet Daily News

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=more-than-100-protest-turkish-pms-armenian-deportation-threat-2010-03-20

Saturday, March 20, 2010ISTANBUL - Agence France PresseMore than 100 protestors took to the streets of Istanbul Friday, accusing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of racism over his threat to deport illegal Armenian workers.

 

Between 100-150 demonstrators marched along the Istiklal Avenue, the main commercial street on the European side of the city, carrying banners with the inscription "You are not Alone" in Turkish, English, Armenian and Kurdish, an AFP photographer said.

 

"Tayyip should be deported! A world without nations, borders and classes," chanted the demonstrators gathered at the call of a non-governmental organization campaigning for immigrants' rights.

 

A statement, distributed to the press, accused Erdoğan of treating Armenian immigrants as a pawn in Ankara's protests against some foreign parliament's recognition of Armenian claims of genocide by Ottoman Turks.

 

"We strongly condemn Erdogan... and those who share his racist and discriminatory mentality," the statement added.

 

The demonstration ended peacefully.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

 

Erdogan perturbe la normalisation avec l'Arménie

 

 

Le Figaro

19/03/2010

 

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2010/03/19/01003-20100319ARTFIG00377-erdogan-perturbe-la-normalisation-avec-l-armenie-.php

 

 

Le premier ministre turc menace d'expulser des milliers d'Arméniens en situation irrégulière.

 

 

La dernière sortie du bouillant premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vient de porter un coup sévère à un processus de normalisation turco-arménien déjà bien mal en point. La récente reconnaissance du génocide arménien de 1915 aux États-Unis et en Suède a servi de facteur déclenchant. Ces résolutions «sapent les efforts de paix avec l'Arménie», a déclaré mardi à la BBC le premier ministre turc, avant de sortir de ses gonds : «Il y a 170 000 Arméniens dans mon pays. Parmi ceux-là 70 000 sont des nationaux, mais nous tolérons les 100 000 autres. Si cela était nécessaire, je pourrais être dans l'obligation de leur dire de retourner dans leur pays.»

 

Le journal stambouliote «Milliyet» jugeait ce jeudi que «faire d'innocents travailleurs arméniens une monnaie d'échange, des otages, est une chose suffisamment grave pour alimenter les accusations séculaires contre la Turquie». Plusieurs autres médias turcs et nombre de diplomates étrangers ont partagé ce sentiment, ce qui a conduit le parti islamo-conservateur au pouvoir à Ankara à faire machine arrière, en expliquant que M. Erdogan n'avait pas l'intention de mettre à exécution sa menace, «ni aujourd'hui ni demain». La vérité oblige aussi à dire que le nombre de clandestins d'origine arménienne, principalement des femmes qui font des ménages ou gardent des enfants, est loin de 100 000, et généralement estimé entre 10 000 et 20 000.

 

 

 

 

L'accord toujours pas ratifié

 

 

Mais le problème se situe ailleurs, à la frontière turco-arménienne, fermée depuis la guerre au Nagorny-Karabakh ou Haut-Karabakh. Entre 1988 et 1994, le conflit sur ce territoire azerbaïdjanais peuplé d'Arméniens a fait 30 000 morts et des centaines de milliers de réfugiés. Par solidarité avec les turcophones azerbaïdjanais, la Turquie a rompu ses relations avec l'Arménie. Le contentieux entre les deux pays, nourri par la question, toujours officiellement taboue à Ankara, du génocide arménien par l'Empire ottoman en 1915, n'avait cependant pas empêché ceux-ci de signer un protocole d'accord sur la réouverture de la frontière en octobre 2009.

 

Cependant,ce texte n'a toujours pas été ratifié par les parlements turcs et arméniens, et le rapprochement entre les deux pays est aujourd'hui au point mort. C'est le fond du problème. La reconnaissance du génocide arménien par une commission du Congrès américain, qui ne présage en rien de son acceptation par la Chambre des représentants, n'est qu'un motif d'agacement supplémentaire.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

Roma and undocumented Armenian immigrants

Hurriet Daily News

Friday, March 19, 2010GİLA BENMAYOR

 

 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=romans-and-illegal-armenian-immigrants-2010-03-19Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has embraced the Roma people but threatened illegal Armenian immigrants deportation.

 

This has left its mark on last week’s agenda.

 

I think embracing Roma was extremely artificial and threatening Armenians is extremely dangerous.

 

If we begin with Roma, Erdoğan by meeting with thousands of Roma last week at the Abdi İpekçi Sports Complex in Istanbul promised that the Roma identity will not be belittled and the Roma are entitled to have the right to live. But we see no concrete evidence of his promise.

 

Is there any project not to force Roma out of their neighborhoods as was the case in the Sulukule incident?

 

Or how about measures taken to provide for the education of Roma children?

 

I was drawn to the remarks of Elmas Arus on this meeting covered in newspapers.

 

“Roma children are not asked what they want to be when they grow up because it is known beforehand that they will be nothing,” said Arus.

 

It is not a secret that 80 percent of Roma are illiterate.

 

Zeynep, a flower girl I know

 

Everyone in Turkey knows that Roma are either street musicians, musicians, flower or basket sellers or street vendors fixing utensils.

 

We are not used to thinking that they could have some other profession as though they should always remain poor and uneducated. This is a shame for all of us.

 

The Roma woman Zeynep with four children and an unemployed husband is situated at the corner of our street, selling flowers. I know very well how hard she tries to survive, sell her flowers and carry flower pots early in the morning, yet she never forgets to smile.

 

Zeynep has no plans for her or her children’s future.

 

She lives day by day.

 

If she earns money, she goes to the market at the other side of the street and shops for her daily meal.

 

Besides, Zeynep at times faces the risk of being caught by the community police.

 

No official treats Zeynep with a loving-care.

 

She has to work with her baby on her lap sometimes. When she was insulted, Zeynep cries inside.

 

Topbaş’ project up in the air

 

I also saw undelivered promises before Erdoğan’s Roma Initiative.

 

As the current Istanbul Mayor, Kadir Topbaş, was preparing for the political race while he was Beyoğlu County Mayor years ago he had talked about a terrific project for the integration of Roma living in the Hacıhüsrev neighborhood.

 

Since I wrote an article on it, I remember clearly. Topbaş said that ateliers and a conservatory will be set-up for Roma with the European Union’s support.

 

Topbaş didn’t keep his promise.

 

There is no conservatory for Roma living in Hacıhüsrev.

 

I also don’t know if they benefit from some part of the EU fund.

 

Therefore, as long as there is nothing concrete on the table, poor, unemployed and uneducated Roma will always be discriminated against. And I have no hope that they will reach prosperity and have a better life after their meeting with Erdoğan.

 

Most Armenian immigrants are women

 

The second incident of the week was Erdoğan saying to BBC that he could deport Armenians living illegally in Turkey if necessary.

 

How will the governing party save its face after this unfortunate statement?

 

How about Mr. Prime Minister? How will he remove the shame of this different kind of a threat made against people who defend the 1915 genocide issue?

 

What is the catch for a political blackmail against these poor, mostly-women Armenians who moved to Turkey to earn a living after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia?

 

Besides, the number of these illegal immigrants is around 10,000 or 12,000 not 100,000 as Erdoğan insists.

 

In February, I attended a presentation of research on the “Armenian Immigrants in Turkey” sponsored by the Norwegian government and the Eurasia Cooperation Foundation in Yerevan.

 

Why is the figure being exaggerated?

 

Researcher Alin Ozinyan put the figure, based on official exits and entries to and from Turkey, at 5,800 Armenian illegal immigrants.

 

However, Ozinyan also assumed that the illegal Armenian population could be 10-12,000.

 

Our politicians began to utter the figure 50,000 at the beginning. Then it became 70,000 and now is 100,000.

 

And the reason behind this was also discussed on the same day.

 

According to experts, the reason is obvious: Exploiting the figure is a political gimmick.

 

In fact, the unfortunate remarks of Erdoğan are proof.

 

And I think seeing a person who embraces Roma yet threatens Armenians with deportation in the same week requires a “character analysis”.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

Turkey downplays expulsion threat

 

Al Jazeera

Saturday, March 20, 2010

 

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/2010320183145794106.html

 

 

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, has

said he had no immediate plans to expel illegal Armenian workers after his threat to do so sparked a barrage of criticism at home and abroad.

 

Erdogan, however, urged Western countries to stop branding the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as "genocide,"

slamming such moves as attempts to "tarnish" Turkey's honour and "meddle" in its ties with Armenia.

 

 

The Turkish media and rights groups accused Erdogan of treating illegal Armenians as a pawn in Ankara's protests after his threat earlier this week to deport thousands of impoverished Armenians working illegally in Turkey.

 

But Erdogan said his remarks on Saturday were aimed "at drawing the world's

attention to our tolerant approach towards those people" and did not mean that "we will take such a step immediately".

 

Troubled relations

 

On Tuesday, Erdogan threatened to expel illegal Armenian workers if foreign parliaments continued to pass such resolutions, prompting harsh domestic criticism that his remarks damaged already troubled peace efforts with Armenia.

 

 

Erdogan put the number of illegal Armenians in Turkey at 100,000. Researchers, however, say that the Turkish authorities tend to inflate the figures to put pressure on Armenia, estimating the number between 10,000 to 20,000.

 

Referring to about 100,000 Armenians working illegally in Turkey, Erdogan said on Tuesday: "Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are tolerating the remaining 100,000.

 

"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."

 

Forced to leave their impoverished country to earn a living, thousands of Armenians, mostly women, have settled in Turkey, mainly in Istanbul.

 

Many came after an earthquake in their homeland in 1988 and work illegally, mainly in manual jobs or as nannies and cleaning ladies, sending remittances home.

 

'Negative impact'

 

Erdogan blamed the genocide resolutions on the influential Armenian diaspora in the US and Western Europe.

 

"We are extending our hand, but if our counterparts clench their hand into a fist, there will be nothing we can do," he said.

 

"Those people make shows with those resolutions ... And they harm the Armenian people as well ... And things become deadlocked.

 

"Those actions [on genocide resolutions] unfortunately have a negative impact on our sincere attitudes."

 

Following Swiss-brokered talks to end decades of enmity, Turkey and Armenia signed an accord in October to establish diplomatic ties and open their border.

 

The process, however, has hit snags, with both countries accusing each other of lacking true commitment to the deal.

 

US measure

 

The climate was further inflamed this month when the US House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a non-binding resolution branding the massacres of Armenians a genocide, with the Swedish parliament following suit last week.

 

Turkey recalled its ambassadors from both countries, warning that bilateral ties and reconciliation efforts with Armenia would suffer.

 

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in a systematic extermination campaign during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.

 

Turkey counters that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, were killed in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.

 

Parliaments in several other countries have also recognised the mass killings as genocide in the past.

 

 

[MosJan]

achqis yerevuma mi hat el erdugani hamar en yergits yergem ? inch kaseq ??

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Turkey downplays expulsion threat

 

Al Jazeera

Saturday, March 20, 2010

 

http://english.aljaz...3145794106.html

 

 

 

 

1. Erdogan, however, urged Western countries to stop branding the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as "genocide,"

slamming such moves as attempts to "tarnish" Turkey's honour and "meddle" in its ties with Armenia.

 

 

 

 

2. But Erdogan said his remarks on Saturday were aimed "at drawing the world's

attention to our tolerant approach towards those people" and did not mean that "we will take such a step immediately". "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."

 

 

 

 

 

1. There are no ties between turkey and Armenia. Turkey keeps Armenia in a blocade to support the azeri-turks in their fight against Armenia. Instead of blaming others for his own mistakes, sultan erdogan will restore turey's honor if he abolishes Article 301, and gives people a right to speak about the Armenian Genocide -instead of arresting, torturing, and killing them.

 

2. With 100,000 exaggerated number, sultan erdogan doesn't leavn an impression of an tolerant person. The honor of turkey will be restored if he stops pretending to be a master of turkey's citizens.

[Yervant1]

The Herald, Scotland

March 20 2010

 

Is it an insult to challenge Turkey's denial of atrocities?

 

 

Published on 20 Mar 2010

 

Everyone has a story.

 

If the dates are right, part of my tribe wound up in this country

because of the great hunger, the Irish famine. Those immigrants were a

small part, wounded in their own way, of a bigger history. But I don't

remember feeling moved, particularly, when Tony Blair decided to

apologise for Britain's role in Ireland's catastrophe.

 

My middle name is Mackay. Another set of dates point me, therefore, to

Sutherland, the ancestral territory, and to the Clearances that shaped

so many Scottish families, here and gone. I have some opinions about

19th century economic theory. I've been known to suggest uses for

dynamite around Dunrobin Castle. But an apology? What would I do with

that?

 

Some black Americans have tested the idea. They have said that the

long-betrayed promise made to freed slaves of `40 acres and a mule'

should be revived. They have heard all the things said about slavery

days and guilt, and retorted: money speaks louder. A few polemicists

have even arrived at figures, at billions to make Wall Street blush.

It will never happen, but it illustrates how empty language can be.

 

Those American radicals can summon precedent, after all. Puny as the

gesture may be, Germany has paid money to Holocaust Jews for many

decades. The past cannot be undone, but you cannot say that nothing

should be done. So words, money, lands restored: reparation, in some

form, and restitution. So Israel disputes the Palestinian right of

return ` the ironies will keep ` because of `demographic issues' and

preceding ownership.

 

The Vatican has expressed its sorrow over anti-Semitism and the

Holocaust. Crimes have come to trial because of apartheid, Pol Pot's

Cambodia, Rwanda, the Balkans: there's a list. People ask, rationally,

about the use of it all, and whether there is not something insulting

in going through the futile motions. The dead are dead. Memories of

grievance are an excuse, as often as not, for this year's demagogue.

 

But here's something: no one says the Irish Famine didn't happen. Even

racists do not bother to attempt to conceal slavery. In Germany, to

Germany's credit, you can be jailed for lying about the Holocaust. The

world bears its knowledge ` the important word ` of collective guilt

for the betrayal of Rwanda with an uneasy certainty. So who remembers

theArmenians?

 

Those who know, and have known for 95 years, will wonder that I resort

to the cliche. I'd say it's valid simply because it speaks to a blank

` erased ` portion of human truth. The question was Adolf Hitler's,

after all. He was preparing his stooges for his Final Solution to the

Jewish Question, and he was asking, rhetorically, jovially, who knew

or cared what became of 1.5 million people in the Anatolian quarter of

the Ottoman empire between 1915 and 1923.

 

One answer: `atrocities on both sides'. Another: `the fog of war',

chaos and disease, the breakdown of command and order, local failures,

and the usual matters beyond investigation. A third: a conspiracy to

insult the national pride of a modern, 21st century Nato partner, key

Middle East player, and prospective EU member.

 

The last of these is, more or less, Turkey's response. It causes a

nationalist vehemence, left and right, secular and religious, that

will not fade. Journalists and other writers have died just for

doubting phrases in the official story. This week it caused an

extraordinary statement by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister. The

foreign relations committee of the US Congress had voted, not for the

first time, to call the fate of the Armenians a genocide. A similar

deliberation, with a similar result, had taken place in Sweden.

France, Germany and Italy ` and other nations amounting to 20 ` had

already reached the same conclusion. In Sweden and the US, as before,

Turkish emissaries had been withdrawn. So a prime minister spoke.

 

I'll quote him in full, because I know what usually follows. As

reported (and not disputed) in the Times, Mr Erdogan said: `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: OK, time to go back to your

country. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them

in my country'.

 

So let's begin. Even by Erdogan's accounting, 170,000 into 1.5 million

suggests certain population changes in the space of 95 years. What

happened? It is not, I think, a complicated question.

 

Nevertheless, recent attempts to repair relations between the rump

statelet of modern Armenia and modern Turkey, efforts intended to

allow historians to tackle the question through the Ottoman archives,

have `stalled'. They always stall when Turkey's pride is scorched. So

who is harmed by truth?

 

Secondly, unless I misread, this is the leader of a `key' ally

threatening ethnic cleansing. And threatening it, moreover, to a

people who claim that 1.5 million died when last they were

`transported' from Turkish lands. Some are illegal today? Armenia is

dirt poor. The victims of its 1988 earthquake still seek any work they

can, wherever they can. All the Turks who contributed to Germany's

Wirkschaftswunder would probably understand.

 

The modern Turkish state is not responsible for the massacre of

Armenians. No one with the slightest credibility has said such a

thing. Nor, within any interpretation of the UN's genocide convention,

has anyone tried to place an economic liability on Turkey for what

began in the late 19th century and drew to a close in 1923. There is

no possibility that the descendants of cleared Armenians will return

from Delaware to reclaim an ancestral croft.

 

There is not even a chance, as it happens, that the modern Turkish

state will lose status or credibility if it recognises a truth.

America appreciates Turkey for its airbases, its military, its

secularism and its proximity to Iran. Europe retains dreams of

Byzantine trade. Russia, little Armenia's modern patron, would like to

resolve one mess on its borders. None of these governments would

embarrass Ankara. But the threat of ethnic cleansing, and the fact of

genocide, will not be glossed.

 

The Armenian diaspora is obdurate, I'll grant. It is true,

 

equally, that at the Great War's beginning Armenia's Nationalists saw

opportunities in Turkey's difficulties, and took up Russian arms. But

all the definitions of genocide are explicit: it involves an intent to

destroy a people. Is it an `insult', in the 21st century, to insist

that all we inheritors of decaying empires should deal with historical

truth?

 

If insults matter, as Mr Erdogan believes, then the future becomes

complicated. Turkey is `turning towards Iran'? I suggest a re-reading

of Ottoman catastrophes. Barack Obama remembered in his campaign what

he has forgotten in government: it happened. That ought to count for

Turkey.

 

The very word `genocide' exists only because of a Polish Jew, one

Raphael Lemkin, who remembered the Armenians. He decided that

international law required new categories when the Nazis deprived even

Winston Churchill of speech. Truth and history have no such

deficiencies. Journalism, in advance of a promised Commons debate on

the genocide, can also cope.

 

So I give the Turkish government a challenge I have offered before.Let

me walk in the ruins of the Armenian city of Van, a mile from the

lake, at my own expense, without the risk of arrest, and ask what once

happened. If not, why not?

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/ian-bell/is-it-an-insult-to-challenge-turkey-s-denial-of-atrocities-1.1014697

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

We are all deeply moved!

Hurriet Daily News

 

Font Size: Larger|Smaller

Tuesday, March 23, 2010BURAK BEKDİL

 

 

 

President Abdullah Gül was “deeply moved” when a chorus of Cameroonian schoolchildren sang a Turkish song during his visit to a college in Cameron’s capital Yaoundé. He was probably even more deeply moved when he won the Chatham House Prize awarded by the prestigious British think tank for being “deemed to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations.”

 

Naturally, we are deeply moved to have a president who has made a most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations. It’s good to know that international relations, on a global scale, have improved significantly thanks to the Turkish president.

 

Ironically, the man who has made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations has declared that he will never again talk to President Barack Obama on the Armenian genocide issue. And his country’s embassies in a number of capitals, including Washington, are ambassador-less in a rather silly protest against genocide resolutions. With a few more significant contributions to international relations we may soon have hardly any ambassadors abroad. Alternatively, the Foreign Ministry may establish a general directorate for recalled ambassadors.

 

On a personal note, I was deeply moved when President Gül took my advice in defense of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s niceties about illegal Armenian workers. Last week, I wrote that the pro-Erdoğan intellectual relief teams may claim that the prime minister threatened to expel 100,000 illegal Armenians “in order to illustrate to the world how hospitable Turks are” (TDN, The Exodus – Part II?).

 

I felt like a presidential advisor when Mr. Gül argued that “the prime minister said that to show we did not hate the Armenians.” I must agree that the president’s choice of wording was a smarter line of defense to salvage the prime minister’s unsalvageable, near-hate speech. But I claim presidential praise for the idea!

 

In defense of his not too original idea of Exodus II (see 1915-1918 for Exodus I) Mr. Erdoğan claimed that he was misquoted. He said, “There is a difference between expelling Armenians and expelling Armenians working in Turkey illegally.” I wasn’t deeply moved with that poor self-defense for a number of reasons.

 

First, the press did not misquote the prime minister. He was quoted as saying exactly that: expelling 100,000 illegal Armenian workers. Second, the prime minister cannot expel Turkish citizens of Armenians origin in any case – well, he almost cannot. And third, expelling 100,000 officially-tolerated Armenian workers, legal or illegal, is as unpleasant as expelling Armenians.

 

If Mr. Erdoğan spoke of expelling illegal workers regardless of their nationality that would have been something else; but [mass] deportation on the basis of ethnic selection is... well, we all know what…

 

But, apparently, Turks were “deeply moved” by their prime minister’s ethnic offensive. A survey by pollsters, MetroPOLL, has revealed that 48.8 percent of Turks support the deportation of illegal Armenian workers – while only 33.9 percent disapprove the idea. It must be a “statistical coincidence” that the percentage of Turks on the “go-home-Armenians” camp is almost identical to Mr. Erdoğan’s party’s vote in the last general elections (47 percent).

 

It is hardly surprising if half of the Turks favor the idea of mass deportation targeting one specific ethnicity. But by leaving the survey incomplete, MetroPOLL missed a great opportunity to make a significant contribution to the improvement of political science.

 

For a better understanding of the Turkish mental calculus, the pollsters should have asked the respondents an accompanying question: Would you approve if the government expelled illegal Muslim workers from Turkey? Any bets that the percentage of Turks who would have responded positively would have been (at most) a fifth of those who favored Exodus II?

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

Gul’s interview to Irish Times interpreted Erdogan’s statement

 

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2010/03/23/gyul/

 

 

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul commented to Irish Times on recent developments round Turkish PM Erdogan’s statement on expelling illegal Armenians from Turkey.

 

Gul insists Erdogan’s comments were “wrongly interpreted” by the media. “He did not want to say that we will be expelling those people but he wanted to underline the fact that we do not have any hostility or grudge. He tried to draw attention to the fact that, even though there are so many illegal workers in Turkey, if there had been a policy of expelling them we would have done it many years ago.”It’s worth reminding that a few days ago Gul opposed to Erdogan’s statement claiming that the figure of illegal Armenians living in Turkey isn’t 100 thousand.