Turkish Prime Minister — and
presidential hopeful — Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sparked an outcry on Wednesday, August 6, 2014
after using what critics said was a racist slur against Armenians in a
television interview.
During a live interview on the private NTV channel late Tuesday, Erdoğan complained that the opposition was carrying out a smear campaign
against him by claiming that he was from another ethnic origin.
“They called me a Georgian. Pardon me for saying this, but they said
even uglier things: They called me an Armenian!” Erdoğan said.
“As far as I have learned from my father and grandfather, I am a Turk,” he added.
