Epress.am News from Armenia
“I don’t look at my citizens’ ethnic background,” read the headline of Istanbul-based daily Star’s front-page article yesterday, quoting remarks from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who commented on Turkey’s offer to Turkish-Armenian academic Daron Acemoğlu to become its representative at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“He is a very qualified colleague. He said he would be pleased to take up the offer in the future but that right now he is focusing on his academic goals. We believe he will represent our country in the best of ways. When we take such actions, we do not look at the ethnic background of our citizens,” Erdoğan said.
Earlier, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu had said, “It’s impossible for us to subject citizens of the Republic of Turkey to discrimination on an ethical and religious basis.
“Competency of the Turkish citizen is the essential criteria for us in this sense.”