TURKEY RECALLS AMBASSADOR OVER ARMENIA GENOCIDE DISPUTE
EUX.TV, Netherlands
Oct 12 2007
Eds: Recasts with ambassador’s recall
Istanbul/Washington (dpa) – Turkey ordered its ambassador in Washington
Thursday to return home in response to a US congressional resolution
that condemned the World War I-era slaughter of more than 1 million
Armenians as "genocide."
The ambassador, Nabi Sensoy, was being brought back for consultations,
Turkish media reports said, following the vote Wednesday by the House
Foreign Affairs Committee on a non-binding resolution labelling
the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as
genocide. The Turkish embassy in Washington refused to comment on
the reports.
US President George W Bush strongly opposed the measure over worries
it would sour relations with a NATO ally whose friendship is vital
to American foreign policy in the Middle East and the war in Iraq.
Turkey has warned the resolution’s passage would disrupt relations,
and US diplomats were scrambling to contain the fallout. US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice planned phone calls to Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, the State
Department said.
"I expect the secretary to convey in her calls to Turkish authorities
… the regret that the administration has over the passage of this
resolution," spokesman Tom Casey said.
Casey said the recall of Sensoy will not affect the ability of US
officials to convey the Bush administration’s views on the resolution
but that the decision made by Ankara did not come as a surprise.
"The Turkish government has telegraphed for some time, been very vocal
and very public about its concerns about this and has said that they
did intend to react in a fairly forceful way," he said.
Turkey lobbied unsuccessfully against the bill that passed the
committee with a 27 to 21 tally and will now go to the full House
for a final vote, although no date has been scheduled. Bush urged
Congress to abandon the measure hours before it was approved.
Gul said in a statement posted on the embassy’s website that Congress
was using the measure to score political points with constituents at
the cost of good relations with Turkey.
"It’s a pity that some politicians in the United States closed their
ears to calls of common sense," he said.
Rice and other top US officials will continue meeting with members of
Congress to urge them to "defeat this resolution" in the final vote,
Casey said.
"We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that it does not receive
approval by the full House," he said. White House spokeswoman Dana
Perino said the president does not want to see the measure even come
up for a final vote.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that the genocide
resolution could prompt Turkey to limit its use as a transit point
for US military equipment and supplies into Iraq.
Several members on the committee acknowledged that the resolution
could put the Bush administration in a difficult position with Turkey
but insisted it was essential for the United States to speak out
accurately about acts against humanity.
Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House
who intends bring the measure up for the full vote, rejected the
administration’s argument that the United States cannot afford to
offend Turkey.
"The US and Turkey have a very strong relationship. It is based
on mutual interest," she said. "This isn’t about … the Erdogan
government. This is about the Ottoman Empire."
Bush called the killings one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th
century but said it was up to historical scholarship to determine
whether genocide is the appropriate term, echoing Turkey’s official
position.
Turkey denies that a systematic slaughter of Armenians took place,
saying Armenians and Turks alike were killed in ethnic clashes after
Armenian groups sided with Russia in World War I.
Towards the end of the 19th century, 2.5 Armenians lived within the
Ottoman Empire. During the forced expulsions in 1915 and 1916 alone,
1.5 million Armenians died, according to the Wiesbaden, Germany-based
Centre against forced Expulsions.
Turkey today says only 200,000 Armenians were killed. Journalist
Hrant Dink was assassinated earlier this year for writing that the
mass killings amounted to genocide. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has
encountered legal problems for doing the same.
To date, more than a dozen countries have condemned the killings as
genocide, including France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Turkey
suspended military relations with France at the time and cancelled
some arms deals with France.