Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has laid down a dangerous and seemingly inexplicable threat, according to Daily Star Lebanon.
As Shahan Kandaharian, Editor-in-Chief of Beirut-based Aztag newspaper told PanARMENIAN.Net, that the newspaper accused Turkey of using double standards.
“Turkey distinguished itself by criticizing the policies of a certain state, Israel, against a certain stateless people, the Palestinians. One interview to the BBC could destroy all of the credit amassed by Erdogan and his government, and make him out to be a petty settler of scores, not a statesman,” the newspaper said. “For the region, Turkey hasn’t been a shining beacon of free civil society and democracy, but it’s served as a possible model for the future of Arab states: civilian governments and a military that doesn’t directly hold the reigns of power. How could Ergodan’s move possibly benefit anyone?”
“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,” 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, Chaldeans and Pontiac Greeks by the Swedish parliament on March 11.
