Earthtimes (press release)
March 5 2010

Turkey-US relations strained after Armenian ‘genocide’ bill passed

Posted : Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:44:08 GMT
By : dpa

Istanbul – Turkey called on the US Friday to correct a "historical
mistake" after a Congressional committee passed a resolution that
recognizes the mass murders of Armenians during World War I as a
"genocide.""We expect and hope that the US Congress will correct this
historical mistake soon," Turkish media Friday quoted Turkish Speaker
of Parliament Mehmet Ali Sahin as saying.

Armenians contend that up to 1.5 million of their people were
systematically killed by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Turkey has long denied the genocide claim, saying the number of
Armenians killed is much lower and that the deaths were the result of
violent turbulence that also affected other groups at the time.

Ankara also recalled its ambassador to Washington after the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives passed the
resolution in a 23-22 vote on Thursday.

"We condemn this resolution accusing Turkey of a crime that it had not
committed," the Turkish Prime Ministry said in a written statement
issued soon after the vote.

"Our Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan was recalled tonight to Ankara
for consultations after the development,"the statement said.

Ankara had warned that the bill’s passing could lead to a rupture in
relations with Washington and could harm an already endangered
reconciliation process between Turkey and Armenia.

"Turkish-US relations are experiencing their most successful period in
history," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. "I
hope that they will not be damaged by such initiatives."

The non-binding resolution calls on US policy and President Barack
Obama to formally refer to the World War I mass killings as a
"genocide." Speaker Nancy Pelosi must now decide whether the bill
passed by the committee will be sent to a full vote in the House.

The US has approximately 1 million citizens of Armenian descent.

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