TURKISH AMBASSADOR LEAVES FOR U.S. AFTER GENOCIDE ROW

Xinhua General News Service
April 6, 2010 Tuesday 4:10 AM EST
China

Turkish Ambassador in Washington Namik Tan left for the United States
on Tuesday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

"Our interlocutors understood the message we wanted to give. We have
received satisfactory answers. It is time to return to my office,"
Tan was quoted by the report as saying.

On March 4, Turkey temporarily recalled its ambassador to the United
States minutes after a U.S. congressional panel approved a resolution
concerning Turkey.

The resolution on Armenian allegations related to the incidents in
1915 was adopted at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Foreign Affairs in a voting of 23-22.

Turkey strongly rejected the genocide allegations and regarded the
events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks
and Armenians.

Tan said that "I will welcome Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in
Washington at the weekend."

Erdogan will travel to the United States to attend the International
Nuclear Security Summit due to be held in Washington on April 12
and 13.

Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in the row over the deaths
of Armenians and have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia
declared its independence in 1991.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in October to normalize
relations, however, parliaments of the two countries have not passed
them yet.