TURKISH ENVOY TO RETURN TO US AS TENSIONS EASE

Agence France Presse
April 2 2010

ANKARA — Turkey said Friday its ambassador would return to the
United States next week, signalling easing tensions in a row sparked
by a House panel vote branding the World War I massacres of Armenians
as genocide.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed "positive developments"
in efforts to end the month-old spat, saying he himself would also
go to Washington to attend a nuclear security summit on April 12-13.

"Before I attend this gathering, I will send the ambassador to the
United States next week," Erdogan told reporters.

Ankara recalled Ambassador Namik Tan on March 4 immediately after
the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a
resolution branding the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Warning of a showdown between the two NATO allies, Ankara urged
Washington to stop the bill from advancing to a vote at the full House.

The non-binding resolution calls on President Barack Obama to ensure
that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide"
and to label the killings of Armenians as such in his annual statement
on the issue.

"There have been some positive developments" since US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
had a telephone conversation last week, Erdogan said.

"I hope these positive developments will continue also in April,"
he added.

Erdogan appeared to refer to April 24, the day Armenians commemorate
the killings, and US presidents come under pressure from the Armenian
diaspora to use the "genocide" word in their annual message.

Washington has traditionally condemned the 1915-1917 killings, without
dubbing them a "genocide", wary not to strain ties with a key Muslim
ally in the Middle East.

Obama pledged during his election campaign to recognise the massacres
as genocide, but has so far refrained from doing so.

Davutoglu said Thursday that Washington had conveyed "increasing
messages easing our concerns and meeting our expectations … and
(showing) that the strategic dimension of Turkish-US relations is
being understood."

The tensions have added further uncertainty to an already fragile
deal that Turkey and Armenia signed in October with US support to end
decades of hostility, establish diplomatic ties and open their border.

Clinton had urged the committee not to hold the vote and said after
its approval that "we do not believe the full Congress will or should
act on that resolution."

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in deportations
and orchestrated killings under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks perished in civil strife when Armenians rose up against
their Ottoman rulers and sided with Russian forces invading the
crumbling empire.