TURKEY RECALLS AMBASSADOR TO U.S. OVER ARMENIANS
By Paul de Bendern
Malaysia Star, Malaysia
Oct 11 2007
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey recalled its ambassador to the United States
for consultations on Thursday after a vote in a U.S. congressional
committee branded killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide.
"We called back our ambassador to Washington for consultations. It
should not be understood that we have pulled him back permanently. He
will be in Ankara for consulations in a few days," a senior Turkish
diplomat told Reuters.
Protesters march during an anti-U.S. demonstration in Istanbul October
11, 2007. Turkey recalled its ambassador to the United States for
consultations on Thursday after a vote in a U.S. congressional
committee branded killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide.
(REUTERS/Osman Orsal) Other Turkish diplomats confirmed the move.
The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved
on Wednesday a resolution branding the killings during World War One
as genocide — a charge Turkey hotly denies.
Turkey’s prime minister will ask parliament next week to authorise
a military push into north Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels although
analysts say a large Turkish cross-border incursion remains unlikely
Washington fears an offensive could destabilise Iraq’s most peaceful
area and potentially the wider region.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was under mounting pressure to act over
the rebels after Wednesday’s U.S. vote on the highly sensitive issue
of the killings in 1915 of Armenians.
The resolution was proposed by a politician with many
Armenian-Americans in his district.
Erdogan’s government will seek authorisation for a military incursion
after a public holiday which ends on Sunday, senior ruling AK Party
lawmaker Sadullah Ergin said.
Ergin said the resolution could go to parliament, where the AK Party
has a big majority, after a cabinet meeting on Monday.
The United States relies heavily on Turkish bases to supply its war
effort in Iraq. Any Turkish offensive into neighbouring northern
Iraq would seriously strain ties with Washington and possibly hurt
Turkey’s European Union accession bid.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned Turkey against a possible
incursion.
"Any possibility of complicating even more the security situation in
Iraq should not be welcome and therefore that’s the message that we
passed to our Turkish friends," he said.
Ankara says 3,000 rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) are based in northern Iraq from where they stage deadly attacks
into Turkey. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in
recent weeks, sparking an outcry.
Before recalling its ambassador, the Turkish government cautioned
that relations with its NATO ally would be harmed by the U.S.
committee’s decision. The non-binding resolution now goes to the
floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democratic leaders
say there will be a vote by mid-November.
Ankara will lobby Congress to prevent the bill from being approved.
Erdogan is due to travel to Washington in early November for talks
with U.S. President George W. Bush.
Turkey’s army has frequently called on the government to give them
a green light to pursue the PKK — which is considered a terrorist
group by Washington, Turkey and the EU — into Iraq.
Big incursions by Turkey in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated
35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels
based in the Iraqi mountains.
(Additional reporting by Hidir Goktas and Evren Mesci in Ankara,
Emma Ross-Thomas and Daren Butler in Istanbul, Tabassum Zakaria in
Washington, and David Brunnstrom in Brussels)