Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey
January 16 2013

16 JANUARY 2013, STATEMENT OF THE SPOKESMAN OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS OF TURKEY IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION REGARDING THE PETITION
LAUNCHED ON THE WEB SITE OF THE WHITE HOUSE WITH A DEMAND FOR TURKEY
TO OPEN ITS BORDER WITH ARMENIA FOR REFUGEES OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN
FLEEING FROM SYRIA TO ARMENIA

ANKARA, Turkey

The following information was released by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Republic of Turkey:

The Turkish nation has kept the tradition of extending a helping hand
to those who have been in a dire need without any religious, lingual,
racial and ethnical discrimination, which has been a natural
manifestation of the conscientious understanding it had inherited from
its ancestors.

As a reflection of this understanding, Turkey did not hesitate to be
amongst the main countries extending a helping hand to Armenia in face
of its difficulties due to natural disasters. Moreover, Turkey has
provided every kind of facilities in transmitting of humanitarian
assistance sent from Armenia to the ethnic Armenians living in Syria.
On the other hand, it is considered to be beneficial to emphasize then
again that Turkey has opened its arms to more than 150 thousand people
who were forced to leave their country because of the clashes in Syria
without making religious, lingual, racial and ethnical discrimination.
Finally it must be also emphasized that a great number of Armenians
fleeing from Syria have already reached Armenia from various routes
including through Turkey.

Turkey will preserve its sensitivity for humanitarian issues without
discrimination in the forthcoming period as well.

It is obvious that the scope, method and conditions of any steps to be
taken in meeting possible demands regarding humanitarian issues, will
be determined by Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress