Turkish ambassador warns U.S. against Armenian Genocide recognition

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey hopes the new Washington administration will understand the importance of the country before it takes a step to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Turkish ambassador to the U.S. said.



"I am hopeful that the officials in the new U.S. administration will understand the importance of Turkey, the meaning of this issue to the Turkish people and the harm it will bring to the Turkish-American relations," ambassador Nabi Sensoy told reporters in New York late on Friday.



Sensoy reminded that in 2007 he was called back to Ankara to "protest the attempts to have the Armenian Genocide recognized in the Congress."



"That happened for the first time in our history. This was a protest of the American policy. Everybody understood the seriousness of the issue and retreated from taking such wrong step. Now we face the same danger," he said.



"I am glad to declare that the two countries are close to normalizing relations... I had gone through what happened in 2007 and I don't want to see this period repeated," the ambassador said, adding "We have to focus on the positive sides of the bilateral relations."



He also warned that there is a good chance for Turkey and Armenia to discuss directly the issues and informed that Obama was invited to the Alliance of Civilizations meeting which will be held in Turkey in April, Hurriyet Daily News reports.