Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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October 13, 2007

Turkish Official Cancels US Visit Over Genocide Resolution
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=19DB8F4:A6F02AD83191E160E58255FB32B1F4FA9574F7DCC14957C0 US congressional
panel approved this week resolution declaring mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide Turkish media say a government
minister has canceled a trip to the United States after a U.S.
congressional panel approved a resolution declaring mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

State-run Anatolia reports that Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen will not
attend an upcoming U.S.-Turkish investment conference in New York.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials say two senior U.S. diplomats, U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and U.S. Undersecretary of
Defense Eric Edelman, a former U.S. ambassador to Ankara, will meet
with Turkish government authorities in Ankara Saturday in an effort to
cool tensions sparked by the resolution.

They are also expected to discuss Turkish plans for a military attack
on Kurdish rebels across the border in northern Iraq. Washington
opposes such plans.







Members of House Foreign Affairs Committee 10 Oct. 2007Ankara recalled
its ambassador in Washington after the resolution passed the U.S.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials say the measure will hurt
bilateral relations.

The Bush administration strongly opposes the resolution, saying Ankara
could restrict critical supply routes to U.S. troops in Iraq.

U.S. military officials are planning for alternatives in case Turkey
imposes restrictions.

Armenians accuse Ottoman Turks of massacring 1.5 million Armenians
from 1915 to 1923 in systematic deportations and killings to drive
them out of eastern Turkey. Turkey denies genocide took place. It
calls the death toll exaggerated and says the Armenians died in civil
unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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