TURKISH PM ERDOGAN: "WE MIGHT NOT RETURN OUR AMBASSADOR TO WASHINGTON"
By Diyar Guldogan
Journal of Turkish Weekly
March 10 2010
Since the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the
so-called Armenian "genocide" bill, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey would not return its Ambassador to
the United States, Namik Tan, until it obtained a clear position from
the U.S. administration.
On March 4, the Committee passed the bill on Armenian allegations
regarding the incidents of 1915 in a vote of 23-22. After passing
this resolution, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that
it might be some time before Namik Tan returns to Washington. Prime
Minister Erdogan also implied that Namik Tan would stay in Ankara
for a while unless certain steps are taken.
After receiving the "King Faisal International Prize for Service
to Islam" at a ceremony held in Riyadh on Wednesday, Erdogan made
statements to journalists on various topics. He said that the
Committee’s approval of the draft is quite upsetting to Turkey and
that the Committee’s attitude while adopting the draft was improper.
Erdogan believes that the U.S. will not sacrifice its strategic
partnership with Turkey for the sake of simple political calculations.
He said that the attitude of the U.S. in the next period would be quite
important for Turkey. Erdogan said, "We will assess the situation
with a long-term perspective. We will not send our ambassador back
if we do not see the consequences clearly."