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Turkey's Erdogan Says Expelling Minorities "Fascist"

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  • Turkey's Erdogan Says Expelling Minorities "Fascist"

    TURKEY'S ERDOGAN SAYS EXPELLING MINORITIES "FASCIST"

    WorldBulletin.net
    May 25 2009
    Turkey

    Erdogan said over the weekend that state policies that led to the
    expulsion of tens of thousands of ethnic Greeks in the last century
    were "fascist".

    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's criticism of the 20th Century
    expulsion of ethnic Greeks from Turkey points to a new attempt to
    deal with the country's troubled past, newspapers said on Monday.

    Erdogan said over the weekend that state policies that led to the
    expulsion of tens of thousands of ethnic Greeks in the last century
    were "fascist".

    "For years those of different identities have been kicked out of
    our country ... This was not done with common sense. This was done
    with a fascist approach," Erdogan said on Saturday during a speech
    in northwestern Turkey.

    The comments were the first of its kind by a prime minister.

    "For the first time you have a prime minister who wants to admit that
    mistakes were made in the treatment of religious minorities. This is
    historic," said Sami Kohen, a commentator at liberal daily newspaper
    Milliyet.

    "But whether this rhetoric will be followed with deeds, this remains to
    be seen. In particular the Greeks, they have real problems," he said.

    Other mainstream newspapers made similar comments.

    It was unclear though whether Erdogan was also referring to the
    population exchange of 1923 when more than 1.5 million ethnic Greeks
    were expelled from Turkey to Greece and more than 500,000 mainly
    Turks were driven from Greece in the aftermath of a war between the
    two neighbours.
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