Turkey urges US Congress 'not to harm bilateral ties' over Armenian resolution

ANKARA / Hürriyet

The Turkish Foreign Ministry urged the U.S. Congress not to 'harm bilateral ties' between the two countries. AP Photo

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has condemned a resolution that recognizes the 1915-16 killings of Ottoman Armenians as a genocide, which passed at the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on April 10 by bipartisan vote.

The ministry warned the U.S. Congress not to “harm bilateral ties” between the two countries by carrying the resolution to the legislative agenda.

“It’s important that the U.S. Congress does not carry this resolution or similar ones to the legislative agenda, but rather makes efforts to reinforce our historical alliance and partnership, which have an importance more than ever in the current conjuncture, instead of harming bilateral relations with non-constructive initiatives,” the ministry's statement released on April 11 said.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 10 passed a resolution describing the killings of Armenians as a genocide, clearing the way for the resolution to be voted on in the Senate.

Ankara said it refuted the "political misuses that warps history and the law," adding that it "condemned the pioneers of this initiative, which is biased and lacking in legal basis.”

The U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee “exceeded its authority and responsibility” by passing an “unserious resolution prepared hastily and unskillfully,” the statement also said.

The ministry again cited Turkey’s proposal to establish a joint history committee in order to research the 1915 incidents.