Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has warned that he might deport up to 100,000 Armenians living in Turkey without citizenship after resolutions passed by U.S. and Swedish lawmakers defining the WWI killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Asked during an interview with the BBC Turkish service in London on Tuesday what he thought about the resolutions, Erdogan said – “There are currently 170,000 Armenians living in our country. Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are tolerating the remaining 100,000. If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their country because they are not my citizens. I don’t have to keep them in my country.” »»»»»

Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan cancelled a March 19 visit to the United Stated in response to the passage of HR 252 in the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week.

Caglayan was to head a large business delegation to the US. The decision not to go was made on Monday during consultations with Turkey’s ambassador to Washington who had been recalled. It remains unclear when the ambassador will return to Washington. »»»»»

On the heels of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s stinging cricism of yesterday’s passage on HR 252 in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Turkish President Abdullah Gul has expressed his displeasure as well and with equal intensity.

“I consider the decision unreasonable. It does not belittles the Turkish nation,” stated President Gul. “I strongly condemn it. It does not mean anything to Turkish people. Turkey will not be responsible for the negative consequences of this vote.”

The Turkish Radikal newspaper reports that Turkey’s Prime Ministerial Review Committee (BTK) has criticized the findings issued by the Interior Ministry regarding the murder of Hrant Dink, calling the report “superficial”.

One of the duties of the BTK is to review and audit public bodies and call for investigations when warranted. The BTK is alleged to have noted that that the Ministry’s report is not “legally invalid”, but has the quality of a “message”. It is possible that Beshir Atalay, the Minister of the Interior, will consider the BTK criticism and call for a new report.

Two groups of Turkish parliamentarians will visit Washington, D.C., to lobby against the “Armenian genocide” bill that will be voted on by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 4.

Members of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the Turkey-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group are scheduled to start lobbying in the U.S. capital on March 1, this according to a report in yesterday’s Hurriyet. »»»»»

According to reports in the Turkish press, Ankara remains unsatisfied that Armenia is committed to normalizing relations with its western neighbour.

Hurriyet reports that a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official said today that, “Confusing signals are coming from the Armenian side.” The official was referring to the law recently passed by the Armenian parliament that would make it easier for Yerevan to ultimately pull out of the Protocol ratification process. »»»»»

According to Financial Times.com, Safar Abiyev, Azerbaijan’s defense minister, told Gabriel Keller, the French Ambassador to Baku, on Thursday, that foreign diplomats had failed to negotiate a resolution of the Karabakh conflict and that Azerbaijan’s patience was wearing thin.

“Azerbaijan cannot wait another 15 years. Now it is up to the military and the risk is getting closer. If the Armenian occupiers do not withdraw from Azerbaijan’s land the outbreak of a great war in the South Caucasus is inevitable,” Abiyev is reported to have said.

Murat Mercan, Chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission, has stated that it is unlikely for Turkey to ratify the Turkish-Armenian Protocols given the level of “uncertainty” surrounding them.

Mr. Mercan, in an interview with Today’s Zaman, said, “There is no clarity about how the protocols will be interpreted. Without this clarity, we should not expect the Turkish Parliament to ratify the protocols.”

Here are some of the more relevant excerpts of the interview. »»»»»

Turkish NGO’s and groups that focus on human rights and minority issues are split on the issue of whether the Ergenekon case has led to an increase or decrease in pressure exerted by the state against them.

Etyen Mahcupyan, Agos chief editor and a columnist for Taraf, says that the Ergenekon investigation has cut the number of threats made against Agos. Mahcupyan told Hurriyet that it was hard to say who was behind the recent hacking of the Agos website. The investigation began in 2007 into a suspected gang known as Ergenekon that was allegedly plotting to overthrow the ruling government. »»»»»

Kemal Goktas, a Turkish journalist facing a five year prison sentence for writing a book that contained alleged “top secret” information regarding the murder of Hrant Dink, faced an Istanbul court on February 16.

During the hearing at Istanbul  2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, Goktas who writes for the newspaper Vatan, was given moral support by Nedim Sener, a Milliyet journalist, facing 32.5 years imprisonment for his book hat also deals with the Dink murder. »»»»»

What follows are excerpts of an interview given by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffrey, to Sabah correspondent Nur Batur on February 5, 2010. What we’ve singled out here for our readers are those passages of the interview, focusing on U.S. – Turkish relations, which deal with Turkish-Armenian issues.

  The protocol signed with Armenia has been one of the most important pillars of the “zero problems with neighbors” policy. Is the protocol dead now?

The following article “Turkey’s Internet Repression”, by David Keyes, appeared in yesterday’s The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Keyes is the director of CyberDissidents.org.

From my hotel balcony on Siraselviler Street in the heart of Istanbul, I can see precisely why this bustling, modern metropolis deserves to join the European Union.

Turkey is a proud and moderate Muslim democracy which has a strong economy and provides a striking alternative to the despair and dysfunction of the rest of the Middle East. I am so moved by this nexus of East and West, secularism and tradition, religion and tolerance that I have decided to make a YouTube video in support of Turkey’s accession to the EU. »»»»»

According to Hurriyet Daily News, U.S. Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey warned Turkish MP’s on Tuesday that the Armenian Genocide resolution would likely be adopted by the U.S. Congress in March unless the Turkish parliament ratifies the protocols.

At the meeting between members of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission and Ambassador Jeffrey, the Turkish MP’s expressed their concerns about the resolution scheduled for a vote on March 4. »»»»»

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffrey, told Turkey’s Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission yesterday that the United States continues to fully support the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia.

The Turkish FA Commission had expressed concerns that a Genocide resolution scheduled for a March 4 hearing in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee would damge ongoing normalization talks. »»»»»

Turkey is sending a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official to Washington DC to discuss bumps in the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process. Feridun Sinirlioglu, the Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, will visit the U.S. on February 13.

This latest diplomatic move by Turkey comes on the eve of a March 4 non-binding resolution vote by the House Foreign Affairs Committee urging President Barack Obama to describe the events of 1915 as “genocide”. Mr.Sinirlioglu is expected to tell the U.S. official that the vote will further damage the Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process that has already hit the rocks due to the recent decision of the Armenia’s constitutional court. »»»»»