Turkish President Abdullah Gül said during a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, that Washington should not let relations between the United States and Turkey be harmed against the background of the peak of their development, Trend news agency reported, referring to the Turkish media.
In turn, Obama called on Turkey to expedite the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, Turkish media reported.
The telephone conversation between the two presidents took place against the background of discussions in the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress about the resolution on the so-called "Armenian genocide."
The idea of bringing the issue up for discussion was put forward by committee chairman Howard Berman. The debate was observed by three Armenian and eight Turkish deputies.
Earlier, President Obama urged the U.S. Congress not to approve the resolution, CNN Turk reported.
Meanwhile the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a telephone conversation with the head of the Foreign Relations Committee that the adoption of the resolution would jeopardize the Armenian-Turkish protocols.
Speaking on Thursday at a press conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the United States not to risk the progress made in normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations by considering the matter.
"Now, the United States has two paths: to bring to nothing all the progress made in relations between Turkey and Armenia and in whole in the South Caucasus, or to continue furthering the peace process in the region,” Davutoglu said. “We think they will choose the second path."
