TURKISH GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS U.S. FOR GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
RIA Novosti
Oct 15 2007
Russia
ANKARA, October 15 (RIA Novosti) – Turkey has called the resolution
adopted by a House of Representatives committee classing the 1915
massacre of Armenians as genocide a move that spoils relations between
the two countries.
"The most unjust action one nation can do to another is to accuse it
of committing genocide. This action cannot be explained as hailing
from the friendship and partnership typical of bilateral relations
(between Turkey and the U.S.)," Cemil Cicek, a Turkish government
spokesman said on Monday.
Turkey is currently considering the suspension of military cooperation
with the U.S. over the genocide ruling.
The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed
the document on Wednesday despite opposition from President Bush.
Turkey is a key NATO ally and a crucial U.S. partner in operations
in Iraq.
The Turkish NTV television channel said Turkey’s final reaction to the
document would be announced after discussions in parliament scheduled
for early next week.
NTV said Turkey might restrict U.S. use of a joint air base in
Incirlik, close off its air space to U.S. warplanes, and ban Armenian
aircraft from flying over its territory. The majority of supplies
for U.S. troops in Iraq, including fuel and military hardware, pass
through Turkey.
The U.S. resolution has triggered an angry response from Ankara, which
insists that the deaths and deportations of Armenians at the end of
the Ottoman period were caused by civil war rather than deliberate
genocide. However, the majority of Western academics qualify the
massacre as genocide.
The Turkish government released a statement on Wednesday condemning
the move by the House of Representatives, saying that Ankara could
not admit a crime the Turkish people never committed.
The press service of Turkish President Abdullah Gul quoted him as
saying that the U.S. resolution was "petty domestic politics rejecting
calls to common sense."
Ankara previously froze military cooperation with France after its
parliamentarians passed a similar resolution.