NTV Television, Turkey
Oct 11 2007

Turkey brands US genocide resolution vote as "irresponsible act"

The House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee has approved
a resolution which calls for official recognition of the Armenian
allegations of genocide. Twenty-seven of the members of the Committee
voted in favour of the resolution while 21 Representatives opposed
it. The resolution is expected to be tabled in a plenary session of
the House of Representatives before 22 November. But, the resolution
will not be binding even if it is approved in a plenary session and
it will not constitute a piece of legislation.

President Abdullah Gul has said that the resolution adopted by the
Foreign Relations Committee had no validity. Commenting on the
ratification of the resolution, Gul said: "Unfortunately, some
politicians in the United States have turned a deaf ear to calls for
using common sense and attempted to use and sacrifice an important
issue for insignificant political purposes."

Meanwhile, Ankara condemned the approval of the resolution about the
Armenian allegations about events which took place in 1915 by the
House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "The
advancement of the resolution which will create difficulties in
relations with a friendly and allied country in a critical period was
an irresponsible act." It said that all kinds of efforts would be
made in order to prevent the resolution from being ratified by the
House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Egemen Bagis, a deputy from the Justice and Development
Party, has said that they would make efforts to ensure that the
resolution is not tabled or ratified in the House of Representatives.

Nabi Sensoy, Turkish Ambassador in Washington, said that the approval
of the resolution had caused disappointment in Turkey.