Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey's prime minister on Friday defended his statements about deporting undocumented Armenian workers and criticized the media for misinterpreting his remarks.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the media was wrong to compare Roma and Armenian citizens to illegal immigrants, saying his comments in London were distorted.

Erdogan said Tuesday in an interview with the BBC Turkish service that illegal immigrants from Armenia would be expelled, sparking outrage among the opposition and media.

Things are evaluated differently for citizens within the framework of the law, he said at the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, headquarters on Friday, adding that citizens are different than people who reside in the country illegally.

Erdogan said the foreign press had misinterpreted his definition of “illegal." He said he was not addressing Turkish citizens of Armenian heritage.

He criticized those asking for an apology. “We know very well who that apology should come from,” he said, The Associated Press reported.

During his speech on Friday, Erdogan reminisced about Sunday’s meeting with nearly 13,000 Roma at the Abdi Ipekchi Sports Center in Istanbul. “The enthusiasm at this meeting did not wane for a moment,” he said.

“The Roma citizens are my citizens, and they have not benefited from citizenship laws for the last 10 years," he said. "We will fix these problems. If there is a need to apologize to them, I will apologize to them now in the name of the Turkish state.

“The Roma are not a minority but an essential element in this country,” he said.

Hurriyet Daily News