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Turkey reacted angrily today to a House committee vote in Washington on Wednesday that condemned the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during World War I as an act of genocide, calling the decision “unacceptable.”

In a rare and uncharacteristically strong condemnation, President Abdullah Gul criticized the vote by the House Foreign Relations Committee and warned that the decision could work against the United States.

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The House decision rebuffed an intense campaign by the White House and earlier warnings from Turkey’s government that the vote would gravely strain its relations with the United States.

The vote was nonbinding and so largely symbolic, but its consequences could reach far beyond bilateral relations and spill into the war in Iraq.

Turkish officials and lawmakers warned that if the resolution was approved by the full House, they would reconsider supporting the American war effort, which includes permission to ship essential supplies through Turkey and northern Iraq.

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During the 1980's Turkey began a program of forced assimilation of its Kurdish population. Use of the Kurdish language was outlawed and Turks began denying the existence of the Kurdish ethnic group instead calling them "mountain Turks"[20]. This culminated in 1984 when the PKK began a rebellion against Turkish rule attacking Turkish military and civilian targets. The Turkish government responded with committing their own atrocities by wiping out Kurdish villages. Due to these tactics that target civilians 37,000 have died in the still ongoing conflict

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I saw a clip on the news last night with a Congressperson decrying the fact Turkey was trying to influence the vote by saying they would withdraw their support for the US war in Iraq and not allow them to supply through Turkey. This asshole had the audacity to talk about how he felt a Turkish sword over his head and he didn't like it. So when is the Excited States going to stop sending ultimatums to the rest of the world?

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Turkey ordered its ambassador in Washington to return to Turkey for consultations over a U.S. House panel's approval of a bill describing the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians as genocide, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

The ambassador would stay in Turkey for about a week or 10 days for discussions about the measure, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman.

"We are not withdrawing our ambassador. We have asked him to come to Turkey for some consultations," he said.

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Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:
They have such a proud record.

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lol, indeed.

The real issue, brought up above, is that Turkey is going to make some moves into northern Iraq to stop the PKK and since the US's surge is working so magnificently, they can't afford troops to go north and contain them. I think behind this, the US is really just trying to stomp on Turkey diplomatically.

Ultimately this is going to backfire, Turkey's going to lash out at the US and move into Kurdish areas of Iraq, which is going to turn the Kurds into a more active force in Turkey. Which is going to create less stability in Iraq and in Turkey, which is great since they're one of the few normalized middle eastern states.

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Originally posted by oldgoat:
Other than showing up as an opposition member and voting along with it, it doesn't look like Harper had a lot to do with it.

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On Thursday, supporters surrendered, at least for now, telling Ms. Pelosi they were willing to wait until next year. “We believe that a large majority of our colleagues want to support a resolution recognizing the genocide on the House floor and that they will do so, provided the timing is more favorable,” the four chief sponsors said in a letter to Ms. Pelosi.

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