Turkey Condemns Us Over Armenian Genocide Resolution

Turkey today condemned a US congressional committee for approving a resolution that recognises the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Calling the move "irresponsible", and with reference to tensions on its border with Iraq, the Turkish government warned it could damage a strategic partnership at a sensitive time.

"Our government regrets and condemns this decision. It is unacceptable that the Turkish nation has been accused of something that never happened in history," it said.

The House of Representatives foreign affairs committee yesterday approved the resolution by 27 votes to 21. It goes to the House floor, where there will be a vote by mid-November, say Democratic leaders.

The committee approved the resolution despite warnings from the president, George Bush, and other top administration officials, who said it would damage relations with a key Nato ally and jeopardise an important route for US supplies to Iraq.

About 70% of US air cargo going into Iraq goes through Turkey, and US commanders fear access to airfields and roads will be put at risk.

Turkey also provides thousands of truck drivers and other workers for US operations in Iraq. Supplies also flow from Turkey's Incirlik air base to troops in Afghanistan.

More worrying for the US is that the congressional move will weaken its influence over Turkey at a time when the ruling AK party is under pressure from the military to authorise a major incursion into northern Iraq against Kurdish rebels.

Pressure for major military action has intensified because fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) have killed some 30 soldiers and civilians in the past two weeks.

Turkey has complained that US and Iraqi authorities have failed to crack down on 3,000 PKK rebels based in northern Iraq. But large-scale incursions by Turkey in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated 35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels.

The US fears such an operation could destabilise one of the few relatively peaceful areas in the country.

Yesterday's vote was widely condemned in Turkey.

"Twenty seven foolish Americans," the daily Vatan newspaper said on its front page, in reference to the committee members who approved the resolution. The Hurriyet newspaper called the resolution a "Bill of hatred".

Some politicians in the US had "once again sacrificed important matters to petty domestic politics despite all calls to common sense", said the president, Abdullah Gul.