Earthtimes (press release)
March 4 2010

Turkey warns Washington over Armenian resolution

Posted : Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:18:14 GMT By : dpa

Istanbul – Ankara has warned Washington that the passing of a
Congressional resolution recognizing the large-scale massacre of
Armenians during World War I as a "genocide" could harm relations
between Turkey and the United States. The US House of Representatives
Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote on the non-binding
resolution Thursday. If it passes, House speak Nancy Pelosi must
decide if it will go to a full vote.

Turkey has dispatched several parliamentarians to Washington to lobby
against the effort and Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke to his
American counterpart, Barack Obama, yesterday.

Turkish leaders have 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."

Previous efforts to pass similar bills were stopped, mostly due to
concerns in Washington over the fallout to relations with Turkey. When
a House committee passed a genocide resolution in 2007, Ankara
temporarily recalled its ambassador to Washington.

Armenians contend that up to 1.5 million of their own 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.

Read more: ,tur key-warns-washington-over-armenian-resolution.html #ixzz0hEyJKH0n