TURKEY WARNED THE UNITED STATES AND ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2010 10:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey warned that its relations with the United
States and Armenia would be damaged if a U.S. congressional panel
votes to term 1915 incidents in Ottoman-era as Genocide.
Ahead of a vote set for Thursday, NATO member Turkey has stepped up
a diplomatic campaign in the United States aimed at blocking passage
of the resolution. The Armenian issue has poisoned ties between the
two allies in the past.
"Presentation of such a resolution at such a time, without any apparent
reason, to the House Foreign Affairs Committee is reasonable neither
in political nor in ethical terms," Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu told reporters in Cairo.
"Trying to exert pressure on Turkey with such attempts every year
means not knowing Turkey," he said on the eve of the vote.
The non-binding resolution, to be voted on Thursday by the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, would call on U.S. President Barack Obama to
ensure that U.S. policy formally refers to the incidents as "genocide".
It also would call on him to use that term when he delivers his
annual message on the issue in April — something Obama avoided doing
last year.
Obama visited Turkey last April, and his administration sees the Muslim
country as a key ally whose help is needed in solving confrontations
from Iran to Afghanistan.
The Turkish minister said relations with Armenia were going through
their best phase in a painful history.
"We see this as an attempt which will seriously cripple and damage
the cooperation at a time of such strong cooperation," Davutoglu said,
Reuters report.