Turkey's prime minister said on Tuesday that Armenia should be saved from the control of the diaspora.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his British counterpart Gordon Brown in London. Following the meeting, the two officials held a joint press conference and replied to questions from reporters.
Erdogan said the crisis following the adoption of resolutions recognizing the deaths of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide would harm Armenia.
Erdogan replied to questions from Huseyin Alkan of the BBC Turkish Service in London.
He said nearly 170,000 Armenians now lived in Turkey and 100,000 of them were living there illegally. "We are ignoring the situation now. But if it is needed, I will tell them that they should go back to their country. They are not my citizens. I don't have to keep them in my country," he said.
"The current developments are not our problem. It is the problem of Armenia. This country must make a very important decision. Armenia should be saved from the diaspora's control," he said.
"At this point, the Minsk Group [mediating a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] has an important duty. It should fulfill its objective. Once it is fulfilled, all the problems will naturally vanish and there will not be any problems between Turkey and Armenia, or between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he said.
Asked about relations between Turkey and the EU, Erdogan said the EU should keep its promise on the country's EU accession process.
The four chapters in the process that have not been opened should be revised, Erdogan said. "There are four chapters on which we can talk. We are working on these four chapters. I think that Spain's presidency will be like a signal flare," he said.
Asked about the opening of ports to Greek Cypriot ships, Erdogan said, "if both parties open their ports reciprocally, we are ready for that. We want the EU to keep its word."
Asked whether tension with the United States would overshadow the role that Turkey wants to play in the Middle East, Erdogan said, "We will do what we can. We are exerting efforts with goodwill. We are working to contribute to world peace."
Turk Net