TURKEY RULES OUT RETURN OF AMBASSADOR TO US
Yemen News Agency
M arch 10 2010
ANKARA, March 9 (Saba) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
ruled out Tuesday the return of Turkey’s Ambassador to the US before
making sure that a draft law which acknowledged Armenia’s claims
that Ottomans massacred the Armenians would not be approved by the
US Congress, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
The foreign relations committee at the US Congress approved a bill
last week which recognized the Armenian claims that Ottomans committed
genocides against the Armenians in 1915. The bill forced the Turkish
government to recall its Ambassador in Washington Nameq Tan.
"We will not send our ambassador back unless we get a clear signal
of the situation regarding the draft law of the Armenian claims,"
Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan, currently Saudi Arabia, as saying.
Erdogan said that US President Barack Obama pledged to confront the
draft law because the Administration realized the harm that would
result from approval of the bill.
The foreign relations committee approved the bill in a 23-22 vote
despite pressure by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to thwart
the bill.
The Turkish opposition, since the adoption of the bill, called for
the closure of Incirlik airbase and scrapping an arms deal from the US.