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Turkey condemns Armenian genocide bill, recalls ambassador to U.S.

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  • Turkey condemns Armenian genocide bill, recalls ambassador to U.S.

    The FINANCIAL, Georgia
    March 5 2010


    Turkey condemns Armenian genocide bill, recalls ambassador to U.S.
    05/03/2010 11:49 (11:23 minutes ago)

    The FINANCIAL -- Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the United
    States shortly after a U.S. congressional panel supported a bill
    recognizing mass killings of Armenians by Turkish troops in the
    beginning of the 20th century as an act of genocide, according to RIA
    Novosti.


    The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives
    approved on March 4 a non-binding resolution recognizing the genocide
    of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

    "We condemn this bill that blames the Turkish nation for a crime it
    did not commit. Our Washington ambassador was invited to Ankara
    tonight for consultations," Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
    said in a statement posted on his office's website.

    The resolution, which has already become a diplomatic flashpoint
    between Washington and Ankara, has not been finally adopted and will
    now go before the full House, although no date has been set for the
    vote.

    Turkey, which has always refused to recognize the killings of an
    estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman period in
    1915 as an act of genocide, earlier warned Washington that this move
    could jeopardize U.S-Turkish cooperation and set back the talks aimed
    at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia.

    Turkey and Armenia signed protocols on establishing diplomatic
    relations and on developing bilateral relations last October. They are
    yet to be approved by their parliaments.

    The Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara's
    initiative. Bilateral relations are complicated over the genocide
    issue as well as by Turkey's support of Azerbaijan's position in the
    Nagorny Karabakh problem.

    A number of states have recognized the killings in Armenia as the
    first genocide of the 20th century, including Russia, France, Italy,
    Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece, as well as 42 of the 50
    U.S. states. The Vatican, the European Parliament and the World
    Council of Churches have also denounced the killings as genocide.
    Uruguay was the first to do so in 1965.

    http://finchannel.com/news_flash/World/5976 1_Turkey_condemns_Armenian_genocide_bill,_recalls_ ambassador_to_U.S._/
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