Ankara lashes at U.S. resolution on 'Armenian genocide'

The Turkish authorities said that the recent U.S. resolution recognizing Armenian claims of 1915 events, jeopardize the bilateral relations with Turkey.

"The sanctions bill that passed yesterday in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Armenian resolution that passed today in the Senate endanger the future of our bilateral relationship," Turkey’s communications director Fahrettin Altun wrote on Twitter.

The resolution asserted that "it is the policy" of the U.S. to commemorate the alleged genocide "through official recognition and remembrance."

Turkey informed the U.S. about the reasons and aims of its anti-terror operation in northern Syria, Altun recalled, and added that Turkey refuses to compromise its national security “as some U.S. Congress members are uncomfortable."

"Sanctions and threats will not deter us from protecting our national security interests," Altun stressed, hitting back at the U.S. Senate resolutions as "irresponsible and irrational actions."

"As we stated previously we expect our Armenian brothers to stand up and prevent the U.S. Congress to destroy any attempt to reconcile our differences through scientific and academic channels," Anadolu agency cited him as saying.

"History will note these resolutions as irresponsible and irrational actions by some members of the U.S. Congress against Turkey. They will go down in history as the responsible party for causing a long lasting damage between two nations," the Turkish official added.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement condemning the U.S. move, saying the U.S. resolution was one of the shameful examples of how history can be politicized.

The ministry said the move was a destructive attempt aimed at damaging efforts on the development of relations between Ankara and Washington.

It added that the resolution was not based on history and a judicial basis and Turkey would continue to protect its interests with determination regardless of such unjust and inconsiderate decisions.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution, pushed by Senator Robert Menendez, that recognizes the so-called Armenian genocide.