Erdogan's statements worry Armenian illegals in Turkey

Erdogan's statements worry Armenian illegals in Turkey

Fri 19 March 2010 | 06:30 GMT

Many migrants send the money they earn in Turkey to their families in Armenia, supporting that countrys economy.

The Turkish prime ministers recent suggestion that undocumented citizens of Armenia may have to be deported has raised fears among Armenian workers living in Turkey.

Many migrants send the money they earn in Turkey to their families in Armenia, supporting that countrys economy.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogans comments to journalists in London on Tuesday came after a US Congressional committee and the Swedish parliament accepted claims of 'genocide' regarding the incidents of 1915. The prime minister claimed that there are 100,000 undocumented Armenians working in Turkey and that Ankara has so far tolerated them.

According to a study by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, there are anywhere between 6,000 and 70,000 people from Armenia residing in Turkey. A journalist from the weekly Agos estimated the number of Armenians working in Turkey at between 12,000 and 14,000, based on Ministry of Labour statistics.

Speaking to daily Radikal, Karina, an Armenian citizen working in Istanbuls Kumkapi district, said she is worried about the statement. Karina, who declined to give her surname, has been living with a tourist visa in Turkey for the past five years. 'Deportation will be bad for me economically and socially,' she said.

Making a living

Others speaking to daily Radikal also said they had to work in Turkey to make a living.

Armen, who also refrained from giving his surname, said he has a life in Turkey and does not want to leave that behind. 'Even if the police come to me with a knife in their hands, I will not leave here,' he said. 'I am married. My children are with me and we are all right here.'

According to recent research, there are around 800 children who were born in Turkey to Armenian parents who live undocumented in the country. These children are in a legal limbo, citizens of neither nation.

'If I am deported, I will find a way to return to Turkey,' said Giyma Harutunyan, who has been living in Turkey for the past five years.

Yura Sarkisyan, 70, who is involved in the 'shuttle trade', told Radikal: 'It is the politicians who make this thing complicated. There is no good in bringing up events that happened a long time ago. We do not want to leave. We are thankful to all the Turkish people.'

Some undocumented Armenians, however, said they would leave if they were no longer wanted in Turkey. A.N., 37, identified only by her initials, said she loved Turkey and has lived here for four years now. 'But if they want, we will leave. We are here because the chance to find a job in Armenia is small. This is our countrys fault,' said A.N., who works as a salesperson in Istanbuls Aksaray district.

M.H., 43, also identified only by her initials, has worked as babysitter for four years in Turkey. She said plans to go back to Armenia within one or two years. 'People should not suffer due to politics. We have a life here,' she said.

The other side of the coin

T.Z., 28, identified only by her initials, told Hurriyet she was a student of Russian literature before she came to Turkey. 'I work in a textile firm here,' she said. 'My husband lives in Armenia. I want him to come here, too.'

T.Z. said the prime ministers statements irked her. 'Hundreds of thousands of Turks are working in Europe illegally,' she said. 'Turkey should not forget that.'

Haygazun Alvrstyan, an academic from Yerevan State University, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday that Erdogans statements are a disturbing reminder of history. '[They again want] Armenians to be deported. It is a shame that this statement is made by a prime minister,' he said.

The academic added that there are only about 10,000 Armenian citizens in Turkey, saying Erdogan is exaggerating the figure in order to 'coerce the European Union and the US not to approve resolutions on genocide claims'.

Siranuys Dvyoan, a professor in Armenia, said undocumented workers are not just Armenias problem, noting that Turks work in various countries in a similar fashion. 'Turkey is trying to display Armenia as a poor country in the world,' she said.

Tevan Poghosyan, from the Yerevan-based International Centre of Human Development, said Erdogan is trying to distract attention from the genocide issue.

Hurriyet Daily News

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Armenian migrants
• Turkey
• Turkiye
• Erdogan
• İstanbul
• Armenia
• Yerevan
• migration
• Serj Sargsyan
• Robert Kocharyan

[BeatWrecka]

bu azeri televizyonu mu ?

[KhanAraz]

@BeatWrecka evet azerbaycanin ANS televizyonu.

[TurkicRose]

What the fuck are those Armenians doing in Turkey?? Those Armenians should stay in their own country. I don't care if Armenia is a poor country, that's their problem. We don't need them!! And the border will stay closed FOREVER!! They should leave Karabakh and recognize the Azeri genocide.

[Turkish2023]

Deportate those cockroaches back to where they came from! They dont pay taxes!

[3choBlaster]

@TurkicRose I don't mind Armenians begging in our country if they would give back Karabagh and stfu about their so called genocide .. we need people to clean out toilets etc.

But if they come here, beg for food and shelter. Meanwhile claim out land, blame us of genocide, steal the land of our azeri brothers... yeah that isn't acceptable. HAHA Armenians think its weird to put illegals out of your country HAHAHAHA every nation does this, What's weird is that WE DO NOT.

[3choBlaster]

@sirunlalala Fuck off you retard, WHAT makes it Armenian you gypsy cunt? The fact that you lived there? PKK supporters call the same land Kurdistan and yet you support them too. Historically NOTHING is Armenian, you are cultureless gypsies. This land has been Turkish for nearly 1000 years now .. you fucking gypsies with your third world country/army and 2 million population are going to take over?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

fucking gypsies, stay away

[3choBlaster]

@Argento1853 HAHAHHA stfu you retarded gypsy, your people NEVER really ruled them selves, They were a vassal state of the Romans and Persians. You sucked their cock for a living until Turkish cock arrived.

You invaded Anatolia in the first place you retarded cunt, Armenians, Greeks, Persians are all invaders .. non of them is indigenous you fucking gypsy...

Now stop crossing our border you fucking gypsies.

[Argento1853]

@TurkicRose 600 is not a genocide retard and I do believe "East Turkey" was Ancient Armenia like Nakhichevan long before you Mongols invaded it.

[sirunlalala]

@TurkicRose its actually historically Armenian land...

[jijed2]

@crusader7001 i like christians. we have a lot of christians in our country but dont say armenians are good people. they are animals who sell their own children for money

[jijed2]

wtf are armenians doing in beautiful turkey

armenians are whores with aids and homosexuals fuck armenia filthy dogs

[WastedPotential123]

Honest truth everyone should KNOW!!!!

Just over 100,000 Armenian prostitutes work right now in Turkiye. Many of these women carry HIV/AIDS. Offer nothing to society. Contribute NOTHING.

You Armernians must hang your head in SHAME.

Every single filthy Armenian must be deported!

[crusader7001]

you took their lands and killed their people in 1915...do you not know of the Turkish genocide against the Armenians...I know it and I'm not even an armenian.

I have lots of Armenian friends and have read a lot about them. you don't like them becausse they are christians right?