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ANKARA: Armenian Patient To Be Granted Turkish Citizenship

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  • ANKARA: Armenian Patient To Be Granted Turkish Citizenship

    ARMENIAN PATIENT TO BE GRANTED TURKISH CITIZENSHIP
    YASEMIN BUDAK

    Today's Zaman
    April 27 2010
    Turkey

    Arthur Manukyan, an Armenian suffering from a chronic illness who
    has sought a permanent residence permit from Turkey, is likely to
    be granted Turkish citizenship at the order of Prime Minister Recep
    Tayyip Erdogan.

    "I am thankful to our prime minister. If I gain citizenship, I
    will go to Armenia and visit my friends. I am very happy," he told
    Today's Zaman. Since he was one of thousands of undocumented Armenian
    immigrants living in Istanbul, he was not able to leave Turkey.

    Armenian Archbishop Aram AteÅ~_yan and the president of the board of
    trustees of the Armenian Surp Pırgic Hospital, Bedros Å~^irinoglu,
    previously requested a permanent residence permit for Manukyan, who
    suffers from moyamoya syndrome, an inherited disease in which certain
    arteries in the brain are constricted, in their talks with Erdogan.

    Erdogan then ordered officials to look into the issue and signaled
    that a permanent residence permit would be given to him.

    While Manukyan was waiting for the permit, Republican People's Party
    (CHP) İzmir deputy Canan Arıtman reminded Erdogan of Manukyan's
    case during parliamentary talks on a reform package over the
    weekend. When Interior Minister BeÅ~_ir Atalay, who was with Erdogan,
    said citizenship would be better and Arıtman said his family should
    also be granted citizenship due to his illness, Erdogan reportedly
    said, "OK."

    Manukyan and his family were invited to the Ä°stanbul Police Chief's
    Office yesterday, and he is expected to be granted Turkish citizenship
    soon.

    Thousands of undocumented Armenian immigrants currently live in
    Ä°stanbul, where many settled after an earthquake in their homeland
    in 1988. The exact number of Armenian immigrants in Turkey is unknown,
    but Turkish-Armenian groups say Turkish politicians inflate the number
    of illegal workers and threaten expulsions whenever tensions escalate
    between Ankara and Yerevan.
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