Erdoğan’s Intervention is Demagogic and Disreputable: The Times

Deportations have powerful symbolism in modern European history. The notion that the government of a would-be member state of the EU might propose the forced collective expulsion from its territory of a specified nationality ought to be unthinkable, wrties The Times, adding that yet that course was casually threatened recently by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish Prime Minister, against 100,000 Armenian migrants.

According to the UK publication, the purported justification of the Turkish PM’s move was the recent passage of non-binding resolutions on the Armenian Genocide in the US Congress and the Swedish parliament.

Turkey takes strong issue with the claim of genocide. The history and politics of Turkish-Armenian relations are convoluted, but the ethics of Erdogan’s remarks are not. His intervention is demagogic and disreputable.

“Historical truth matters. It is extraordinary that the government of modern Turkey should resist it. No one alive today was responsible for these barbarities. They were committed by an imperial power that has long since passed into history along with Wilhelmine Germany, to which it was allied in the First World War.

“While running for the presidency, Barack Obama declared his intention of being a leader who would speak the truth about the Armenian Genocide. In practice, while his views are a matter of record, Obama has been conciliatory in relations with Turkey,” writes The Times.