Turkey recalls ambassador over genocide resolution
Story Highlights
NEW: Turkish ambassador to Washington to head home
Rice expected to call Turkish leaders to express "deep disappointment" with vote
House panel vote calls killing of Armenians during World War I "genocide"
Turkey is a key U.S.-Mideast ally and conduit for supplies into Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, in response to a House resolution that would call the World War I massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces "genocide," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the measure 27-21 on Wednesday evening, even though President Bush and key administration figures lobbied hard against it. The full House is expected to vote on it, possibly Friday.
A top Turkish official warned Thursday that consequences "won't be pleasant" if the full House approves the resolution.
"Yesterday some in Congress wanted to play hardball," said Egemen Bagis, foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I can assure you Turkey knows how to play hardball."
The administration is expected to try to persuade the Democratic leadership not to schedule a vote by the full House, according to The Associated Press.
But House Democratic leaders said earlier if the Foreign Affairs Committee passed the resolution, they intended to bring it to the House floor. Watch why the resolution stirs strong emotions ?
The House was not in session on Thursday because of the funeral of Rep. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, who died on Saturday. Members may vote on the resolution on Friday.
Turkey, a NATO member, has been a key U.S. ally in the Middle East and a conduit for sending supplies into Iraq.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday that good relations with Turkey are vital because 70 percent of the air cargo intended for U.S. forces in Iraq and 30 percent of the fuel consumed by those forces flies through Turkey.
U.S. commanders, Gates said, "believe clearly that access to airfields and roads and so on in Turkey would very much be put at risk if this resolution passes and the Turks react as strongly as we believe they will."
Bagis said since a French Parliament committee passed a similar resolution last year, no French planes have flown through Turkish airspace.
He said the response to the U.S. might not be the same, but warned if the full House passes it, "We will do something and I can promise you it won't be pleasant."
Bagis spoke to reporters while he was in Washington to attend a meeting of the Carnegie Endowment.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, in a statement on his Web site, that the resolution was "unacceptable" and "doesn't fit a major power like the United States."
In a letter to Bush, Gul warned that "in the case that Armenian allegations are accepted, there will be serious problems in the relations between the two countries."
"We still hope that common sense will prevail and that the House of Representatives will not move this resolution any further," a statement on the Turkish Foreign Ministry Web site said.
The vote was also strongly criticized by Turkish newspapers, the AP reported. "Bill of Hatred," said Hurriyet's front page, while Vatan's headline read "27 Foolish Americans."
Undersecretary of State Nick Burns said Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice would call the Turkish leadership Thursday to express "deep disappointment" with the vote.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a statement expressing "regret" for the committee's action, warning the resolution "may do grave harm to U.S.-Turkish relations and to U.S. interests in Europe and the Middle East."
The nonbinding House resolution says the deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians from the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million of them, amounted to "genocide."
Turks strongly reject the genocide label, insisting there was no organized campaign against the Armenians and that many Turks also died in the chaos and violence of the period.
Ambassador Sensoy said the resolution's passage would be a "very injurious move to the psyche of the Turkish people."
He predicted a backlash in the country, saying there would be setbacks on several fronts: Turkish-American relations, Turkish-Armenian relations and the normalization of relations between the nations of Turkey and Armenia.
The resolution's sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, said the measure already had 226 co-sponsors, more than enough votes to pass "and the most support an Armenian genocide resolution has ever received."
A similar resolution passed the committee by a 40-7 vote two years ago, but it never reached the full House floor.
The resolution arrives at a particularly sensitive point in U.S.-Turkish relations. The United States has urged Turkey not to send its troops over the border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish separatist rebels, who have launched some cross-border attacks against Turkish targets.
Observers of U.S.-Turkish relations have argued the House resolution could make Turkey less inclined to use restraint in dealing with its longstanding problems with the Kurdistan Workers Party.
CNN's Deirdre Walsh, Elise Labott and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
