U.S. House Panel’s Vote on Genocide Riles Turks

Turkey has recalled its ambassador and warned of serious damage to bilateral relations after a U.S. House committee approved a nonbinding resolution calling the massacre of more than 1 million Armenians almost 100 years ago a “genocide.”

Turkey has been a strategic location for the U.S., given America’s wars and oil interests in the region, which has made Washington’s position on the genocide a hairy issue. —JCL

The Guardian:

Turkey’s prime minister warned of serious damage to US-Turkish relations today after a congressional committee approved a resolution describing the massacre of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman empire during the first world war as genocide.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had been accused of a crime it did not commit, adding that the resolution would hamper efforts by Turkey and Armenia to end a century of hostility.

Turkey last night recalled its ambassador after the house foreign affairs committee approved 23-22 the non-binding measure despite objections from the Obama administration, which had warned that such a move would harm relations with Turkey—a Nato ally with about 1,700 troops in Afghanistan—and could imperil fragile reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.

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Armenian civilians are marched to a prison in Mezireh by armed Turkish soldiers in 1915.