The Irish Times daily reported last week that about 100 Armenians illegally residing in Istanbul and other Turkish cities were rounded up by police and are facing deportation to Armenia. “Their deportation is considered as revenge for the resolution of the Armenian Genocide being discussed in the Congress.” Karen Mirzoyan, Armenia’s permanent representative to the Istanbul headquarters of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization confirmed this information to RFE/RL by phone. “Unfortunately this information is not official but I have unofficial information confirming the fact of such arrests. I can’t give more precise information because such issues are not officially part of my responsibilities,” said Mirzoyan. According to his information some Armenian citizens, whose visas have expired in Turkey have been arrested for the charge of being illegal in the country. “In general I can say that lately Turkey has restricted its policies in relation to illegal workers in the country,” he said. According to Mirzoyan the detainees are still in the territory of Turkey. To the question what Armenians mainly do in Turkey Mirzoyan answered, “My personal relations in Turkey enable me to divide these people into a few categories. Those mainly include women, who are mainly occupied with providing various serviced to local Armenian families. They take care of patients, seniors. They also work as cleaners. Of course there are also people, who are engaged in trade but these are people who mainly travel.” To the question whether there are Armenian prostitutes in Turkey Mirzoyan said, “As much as I know yes there are cases like that.”
