Turkey slams US over Armenian “genocide” vote
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Turkey has reacted angrily to a US congressional resolution calling the World War I killing of Armenians a genocide. Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the resolution “accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed."
The resolution, which was narrowly approved by 23 votes to 22 by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, calls on President Obama to ensure American foreign policy recognises the killings as genocide.
While Armenia has embraced the decision, Turkey is lobbying for the proposal to be shelved before it reaches the House floor for a full vote.
A similar resolution was made in 2007, but was shelved after pressure from the Bush administration. And now it looks like the Obama administration is toeing the same line as their predecessors. Critics have called it a U-turn from Obama, who pledged during his campaign to recognise the events as a genocide.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "We do not believe that the full Congress will or should act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear to all the parties involved." Last year the two countries normalised relations and Secretary Clinton is concerned the latest US resolution will damage the historic accord.
Yerevan maintains that the Ottomans killed 1.5 million Armenians during World War I while Ankara argues the figure was between 300,000 to 500,000. Although Turkey acknowledges that killings took place, it refuses to accept that they were part of a systematic genocide.
