Anadolu Agency, Turkey
March 6 2010

Turkish premier says US vote on Armenia resolution not to harm Turkey

Istanbul, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that the
US House resolution on Armenian allegations would not harm Turkey in
anyway, at a business conference in Istanbul.

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives
adopted a resolution Thursday with 23 votes against 22, calling on US
President Barack Obama to recognize the incidents of 1915 – which took
place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire – as genocide.

The adoption of the resolution stirred wide reaction in Turkey which
strongly rejects the allegations and regards the events as civil
strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks and Armenians.

Erdogan said the resolution on Armenian allegations would seriously
harm US relations and interests.

"We will not lose anything. Those who act on animosity and a feeling
of revenge with cheap tricks, they will lose. Let me put this clearly,
the resolution of the U.S House Committee on Foreign Affairs will not
harm Turkey in anyway," said Erdogan.

Turkey severely criticized the resolution Friday warning that it would
jeopardize the historic rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia and
harm Turkey-US relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister told an exclusive press conference that the
Obama Administration did not throw enough weight around the issue.

Following Turkey’s reaction the Obama administration announced that it
was against any further congressional action on the resolution warning
the congress that it could harm the normalization process between
Turkey an Armenia.

The Congress is yet to decide whether or not to put the resolution to
vote in the house floor, which would seriously risk further straining
relations with Turkey, a close ally to the US for decades.