TURKISH ENVOY WILL NOT RETURN TO US JUST YET

Press TV, Iran
March 25 2010

Davutoglu says the return of the Turkish ambassador depends on US
stance regarding the Armenian issue.

Turkey’s foreign minister says Ankara will not return its ambassador
to Washington unless the US administration and Congress show better
understanding of Turkey’s history.

In an interview with CNN in Ankara, Ahmet Davutoglu said that the
return of the Turkish Ambassador, Namik Tan, depends on the development
of a "strategic alliance" between the two countries.

"We cannot accept the judgment of members of the foreign relations
committee, who do not know anything about the history," he added.

Last month, Ankara recalled its ambassador from the United States
for consultations after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed
a so-called "Armenian genocide" resolution.

Ankara warned that such a resolution would harm ties between the two
NATO members.

Turkish officials are waiting to see how US President Barack Obama
will express himself on April 24, when US commemorates the alleged
genocide which took place in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million Armenians lost lives during and just
after the World War I, when the Ottoman Empire deported Armenians en
masse from eastern Anatolia.

Yerevan believes that the Armenians were killed by troops or died
from starvation and disease. It has campaigned for the killings to
be internationally recognized as genocide.

Meanwhile, the Armenian lobby is mounting pressure on Obama to use
the term, "genocide" in his annual speech, as promised during his
election campaign.

The Turkish government condemned the resolution on Thursday, declaring
that "supporters of this resolution have taken a wrong and unjust
stance, ignoring historical facts and differences of opinion among
experts."

"The resolution includes tangible errors related to the incidents of
1915, and it has completely been prepared with a one-sided approach,"
the statement added.