Turkey Orders U.S. Envoy To Return Home Amid Controversial Armenian Genocide Bill

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, will return to Ankara as tensions continue to rise following the passage of a U.S. House bill calling the killings of Armenians during World War I a genocide.

"We are not withdrawing our ambassador. We have asked him to come to Turkey for some consultations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman said Thursday. Turkey was quick to say this wasn't the end of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Orders arrived from Ankara on Wednesday right after the bill passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The move, strongly lobbied by Armenian-American interest groups, pushed through despite strong contradictions from President George Bush and several other lawmakers. The House may put it to a general vote on Friday.

Turkey is an important U.S. ally in the Middle East. Defense Secretary Robert Gates noted that Ankara allows American planes and vehicles to use its airspace and roads, with 70 percent of all air cargo bound for Iraq traveling through Turkey.

Gates believed that access to airfields and roads would be put at risk if the resolution passes the House, if "the Turks react as strongly as we believe they will," he said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in an announcement through the government's official website, finds the resolution "unacceptable" and "doesn't fit a major power like the United States." He warned Bush 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," Gul said.