Earthtimes (press release)
March 6 2010
Turkey’s US ambassador arrives home to discuss ‘genocide’ vote
Posted : Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:16:09 GMT
By : dpa
Istanbul – Turkey’s ambassador to the United States arrived in his
home country Saturday to discuss with senior officials the recent
passage of a resolution in the US legislature accusing Turkey of
committing genocide against its Armenian population during World War
I. Namik Tan said he is to meet with President Abdullah Gul, Prime
Minister Recep Rayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on
the matter before returning to the US.
A committee of the US House of Representatives approved the resolution
Thursday by a 23-22 vote. The leadership of the House is considering
whether to bring the measure to a vote of the full body, which would
please Armenian populations in the US, but rile Turkey – a NATO ally –
which is sensitive about the allegations.
Leading politicians, including US President Barack Obama and Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton, have said the resolution could endanger US
relations with Turkey and ongoing peace talks between Turkey and
Armenia.
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 was much lower and that the deaths were the result of violent
turbulence that also affected other groups at the time.
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