Azernews.Az

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement about planned deportation of Armenians from his country is unacceptable and "does nothing to improve" the ongoing Ankara-Yerevan dialog, Novosti Armenii news agency reported.
Erdogan warned in a recent interview with the BBC TV channel that the 100,000 Armenians illegally residing in Turkey could be deported, a terse statement that came after several countries’ parliaments moved to pass bills on the alleged Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians.
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4 endorsed the "genocide" resolution with a 23-22 vote, even though the Obama administration had urged Congress not to offend Turkey by approving it. The bill is now expected to go to the 435-member House. About a week later, Sweden's parliament, by a vote of 131-130, backed a resolution on the alleged genocide, a claim that Turkey resolutely rejects.
Nalbandian claimed that Erdogan’s statement sparked controversy in Turkey as well. He alleged that the 1915 developments in Ottoman Turkey had been instigated by such statements and resulted in "genocide" against Armenians.
"Such statements also sounded in Azerbaijan during the ‘carnage’ committed in Sumgayit, Baku and other regions," Nalbandian maintained.
Nalbandian said he hopes Turkey will listen to what he called international calls "to proceed without pre-conditions, blackmail and provocations."
"It is necessary not to threaten or blackmail Armenia or other countries, but to advance and enforce the agreements reached between the two countries."
Deniz Baykal, chairman of the People’s Republic Party, Turkey’s main opposition bloc, also came out against the Turkish prime minister’s remarks. CNN Turk TV channel reported that he described Erdogan’s warning as "a terrible and out-of-place statement". Baykal claimed that deporting the Armenian illegal aliens from the country would be unacceptable. "Using people coming to Turkey to work as blackmail for the solution of a conflict tramples on human rights."
Illegal Armenian migrants have been utterly perturbed by Erdogan’s warning and said they are unwilling to return to their home country. Some of them said the Armenian government is failing to improve living standards for the country’s citizens, Turkey’s Cihan news agency reported. The migrants also noted that throughout their sojourn in Turkey, they have never faced abuses from the country’s government or people.
Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and the border between the two countries has been closed since 1993. Armenia's occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, and Yerevan’s claims on the 1915 genocide have been obstacles to normal relations between the two countries. Ankara and Yerevan signed two protocols on normalizing their relations in Switzerland in October 2009 in a bid to end decades of hostility. However, the documents still require parliamentary approval. Turkish officials have assured Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, that the protocols will not pass in the country’s parliament until progress is made in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh.*