PanARMENIAN.Net
Turkish ambassador warns U.S. against Armenian Genocide recognition
21.02.2009 16:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey hopes the new Washington administration will
understand the importance of the country before it takes a step to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, Turkish ambassador to the U.S. said.
"I am hopeful that the officials in the new U.S. administration will
understand the importance of Turkey, the meaning of this issue to the
Turkish people and the harm it will bring to the Turkish-American
relations," ambassador Nabi Sensoy told reporters in New York late on
Friday.
Sensoy reminded that in 2007 he was called back to Ankara to `protest
the attempts to have the Armenian Genocide recognized in the
Congress.’
"That happened for the first time in our history. This was a protest
of the American policy. Everybody understood the seriousness of the
issue and retreated from taking such wrong step. Now we face the same
danger," he said.
"I am glad to declare that the two countries are close to normalizing
relations… I had gone through what happened in 2007 and I don’t want
to see this period repeated," the ambassador said, adding "We have to
focus on the positive sides of the bilateral relations."
He also warned that there is a good chance for Turkey and Armenia to
discuss directly the issues and informed that Obama was invited to the
Alliance of Civilizations meeting which will be held in Turkey in
April, Hurriyet Daily News reports.