The Financial Times
Turkey recalls ambassador over US vote
By Daniel Dombey in Costa Rica and Delphine Strauss in Ankara
Published: March 4 2010 18:06 | Last updated: March 4 2010 22:29
Turkey has said it will recall its ambassador from the US after a vote
in a US Congressional panel put Barack Obama’s bid to deepen the two
countries’ ties to its biggest test.
The move came after the House Foreign Affairs Committee backed a
resolution describing the Ottoman-era massacres of 1.5m Armenians as
`genocide’.
`We condemn this draft resolution, accusing the Turkish nation with a
crime that it has not committed,’ the Turkish government said. `This
decision, which could adversely affect our co-operation on a wide
common agenda with the US, also regrettably attests to a lack of
strategic vision.’
US-Turkish ties are already strained as Washington seeks to convince a
sceptical Ankara to back sanctions against Iran.
The narrow 23-22 vote in the committee also came after a last minute
plea by Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, who argued it would
endanger a Turkish and Armenian agreement for reconciliation she
helped to broker last October.
`I do not think it is for any other country to determine how two
countries resolve matters between them,’ Mrs Clinton said during a
Latin American tour on Thursday. `We do not believe that any action by
the Congress is appropriate and we oppose it.’
She added that the administration did not believe the full House of
Representatives `either will or should’ vote on the resolution.
Turkey, with Nato’s second biggest army and an increasingly
influential voice in the Middle East, is a critical regional ally for
the US. It is also an important market for the US aerospace industry,
which opposed the resolution.
But in spite of the personal call from Mrs Clinton, Howard Berman,
chairman of the foreign affairs committee, urged colleagues to support
the resolution.
`It is now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian
genocide,’ Mr Berman said. `This will most likely be a difficult and
painful process for the Turkish people, but at the end of the day it
will strengthen Turkish democracy and put the US-Turkey relationship
on a better footing.’
Ankara denies genocide and says thousands of Turks also died in the
turbulent last years of the Ottoman empire.
Last autumn Turkey signed joint protocols with Armenia aiming to
restore diplomatic ties and open the border. Mr Obama called on
Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president, this week to speed ratification.
But that agreement is close to disintegrating. Armenia is frustrated
by Turkey’s refusal to put the protocols to a vote in parliament until
there is progress in the intractable dispute between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, its ally and gas supplier, over the Armenian-occupied
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Both the genocide debate and Nagorno-Karabakh stir nationalist
sensitivities in Turkey, where anti-US feeling runs high.
The congressional resolution urges the US president to describe the
1915 killings as genocide in an address commemorating the events on
April 24. In spite of a pre-election promise, Mr Obama avoided the
word last year and is likely to maintain that position.
However, in spite of Mr Berman’s decision to take the resolution to a
committee vote, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of
Representatives, has not committed herself to a full vote. `No
decision has been made yet whether to bring the bill to the floor,’
said a Democratic aide.
Unless Ms Pelosi opts to take the resolution to the full House it
could expire at the end of this year. In the past she has given
higher-profile support to a genocide resolution, only to backtrack
after pressure from the White House and elsewhere.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.