The unconventional perfor-mance by Armenian-American artist Kardash Onnig symbolizes his long journey in promoting dialogue and understanding between Turks and Armenians. Onnig, whose parents were born and raised here in Turkey, told Sunday’s Zaman that he has been struggling to make the case for the reopening of the border between Turkey and Armenia. On a recent trip that took him all over the country, he said, “I came back very proud of my heritage that had given so much to Turkish culture.”
Ironically though, he became the target of hate from his own. His visa has been revoked by the Armenian Embassy in Washington because of the book “Savage Chic: A Fool's Chronicle of the Caucasus,” which he published after returning from a six-month artist-in-residency stay in Karabakh.
Like Onnig, there is a sizable number of Armenians coming to Turkey, and their number is growing along with a positive perception of Turks and Turkey. Armenians, who feel the economic crisis taking its toll back home, are moving to Turkey in the hope of landing on a job. They obtain non-immigrant tourist visas on the border and simply overstay their visas after being hired as babysitters, cleaners, factory workers or seasonal farm workers, albeit illegally.
Up to 100,000 workers from Armenia
Nobody knows the exact number of Armenian expatriates who live in Turkey and send money home. But various figures estimate the numbers to be between 40,000 on conservative side, all the way up to 100,000. With the possible opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia, their numbers are expected to increase.
Armenian expats recently became a subject of controversy in Turkey after some politicians seized the opportunity to capitalize on the growing discontent about illegal workers numbering more than a million. Against the backdrop of possible normalization of relations with Armenia, some have raised the possibility of sending Armenian expats back to their home country in an attempt to derail the dialogue process.
“I’m not opposed to Armenian workers flocking to Turkey to look for a job,” says Güven Sak, professor of economics at the Ankara-based Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges University of Economics and Technology (TOBB ETÜ). “It indicates Turkey has become a center of attraction for neighboring countries, and this creates a lot of opportunities for us,” he told Sunday’s Zaman. He stressed, however, that guest workers should be employed legally. “The government needs to overhaul the immigration system and review border security along the guidelines of European Union norms,” he added.
Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, professor of international relations at Gazi University, agrees with Sak in that a possible backlash against Armenian workers might backfire on Turkey and harm the interests of the country. Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, Erol underlined the importance of Armenian workers living and earning their livelihood in Turkey and said, “This is soft power for Turkey.” He also urged more cooperation between civic organizations and youth and health institutions in the two countries. “Treating them as ‘others’ does not serve any purpose and it will, in all likelihood, push Armenians away from Turkey,” he noted.
Workers’ remittances important for Armenia
Keeping Armenian workers well fed and well paid here in Turkey will surely strengthen Turkey’s role at a time when more Armenian migrant laborers are returning from abroad in big numbers. The Ministry of Economy in Yerevan estimates the country receives more than $2.5 billion a year in remittances, which make up about a fifth of Armenia's gross domestic product (GDP). With less money available to send home because of the distressed job market abroad, the revenue of the government fell 25 percent this year. Returning expats are also adding to the huge army of the unemployed in a nation of 3 million.
The local currency has lost a third of its value against the dollar, and the government has turned to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for a loan amounting to over $1 billion. It is also soliciting a helping hand from Russia, the biggest trading partner and investor in the country. Russian companies control much of Armenia's infrastructure, including railways, gas pipelines, a nuclear power plant and mobile telecoms.
Although the border has remained closed since 1993, as a sign of solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey lifted restrictions on the admission of Armenians into the country in January 2002. Armenian visitors can either use airlines that operate regularly between Yerevan-İstanbul and Yerevan-Trabzon, or they can use bus services routed through Georgia ending in cities across the Black Sea coast in eastern Turkey.
The current visa regime allows Armenian citizens to enter the country on 30-day non-resident visas. If any alien is found to be working illegally, they are reported to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. The alien is later deported to their home country and fined TL 844 ($540). He or she is also barred from re-entry to Turkey for five years. The employer also gets hit with a TL 4,227 ($2700).
Şükrü Elekdağ, an opposition party deputy from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was very critical of the government at the time and suggested the deportation of 70,000 Armenian workers in stages. Asked by Sunday’s Zaman whether he still holds the same view today, Elekdağ dodged the question and declined to comment on the issue, saying the question is based on ill-faith.
PM: Turkey will not deport Armenians
Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, dismissed flatly, however, any suggestion that Armenian workers should be deported in order to pressure the Yerevan government. Putting the figure at around 40,000 in a speech he delivered in January, Erdoğan said: “They [Armenian workers] fled the country, they could not sustain themselves in their homeland, and we opened our doors. We could deport them, but we are not doing so.” Stressing that Turkey had welcomed people many times in the past, the prime minister underlined that Turkey is continuing to present the same exemplary attitude.
In fact, government agencies have rarely used their power to deport Armenians so far. In response to a parliamentary question brought by ultranationalist party, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), deputy Hakan Coşkun, who reiterated claims raised by Elekdağ earlier, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said eight Armenians were deported in 2007 and only one as of March 2008. In comparison, more than 50,000 Armenians passed through the Turkish border checkpoint in 2007, making the number of deportees seem almost insignificant.
Even though there is an undeclared official policy to keep Armenian workers relatively comfortable here in Turkey, there is not much the government can do if and when it decides to crack down on illegal immigration. “The fines and penalties are high, but the numbers of official inspectors who are tasked with finding illegal employees in workplaces are very few,” says Kadir Dikbaş, a columnist and expert on economic policy in İstanbul. He said he understands the reasoning behind the government policy but says the situation creates unfair competition in employment policies. “There is also the risk of not protecting these workers’ rights as they simply do not exist in official records,” he added.
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