BAKU; Turkish Foreign Ministry Released A Statement Condemning The "

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY RELEASED A STATEMENT CONDEMNING THE "GENOCIDE" BILL

news.az
March 2 2010
Azerbaijan

Turkish Foreign Ministry Turkish Foreign Ministry reacts to so called
genocide bill.

Following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warning that the bill
would impede the normalization of ties between Turkey and Armenia,
if approved, Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement on Monday.

The statement said: "We regret that Foreign Affairs Committee of
the US House of Representatives will take up Resolution 252 that
recognizes the so called Armenian genocide into its agenda on March 4.

We also informed some officials from the US about our sadness.

We hope that the Committee will reject the bill that will harm the
relations between the US and Turkey and will bring a halt to the
efforts for the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations.

We want to believe that the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee
are well aware of the fact that the approval of the draft resolution
will damage Turkey-US relations as well as peace and stability efforts
in South Caucasia and will take steps keeping Turkey’s sensitivity
regarding the issue in mind."

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Namık Tan came together
with the leading representatives of the Jewish lobby.

Government Speaker Cemil Chichek said that Turkey is doing what she
can to avoid the bill’s ratification.