The newly-appointed Turkish Ambassador to the US, Namik Tan, called the pending Genocide resolution in Congress “baseless” and expressed confidence during a speech Tuesday that his country did not expect any adverse steps from “our ally, the US.”

Tan, who was speaking on US-Turkey relations at a conference organized by the Turkish Democracy Foundation in Ankara, warned that the discussion and passage of a Genocide resolution by Congress would lead to what he described as unwanted strains in US-Turkey relations, Asbarez.com reported.

“Turkey took a historic step and signed the protocols with Armenia,” said Tan, stressing that Turkey did not set any precondition for the signing protocols.

“We do not anticipate any adverse steps from our ally, the US, this year or anytime in the future,” said Tan. “Taking such a step, especially when cooperation between the two countries is very comprehensive, would deal a serious blow to the process and efforts toward establishing peace in the Caucasus.”

Commenting on Tan’s statement Wednesday, Armenian National Committee of America Executive Director Aram Hamparian said: “It’s truly telling that Ambassador Tan’s first public comments came in the form of an angry admission of frustration that his government’s Protocol project has failed to achieve Ankara’s central aim of derailing the growing momentum, in America and internationally, toward universal condemnation and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.”

The Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res. 106) was submitted to the House of Representatives by Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), during the 110th United States Congress. It is a non-binding resolution calling upon the US President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes. The resolution was introduced on January 30, 2007.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

The main goals of the ANCA are: to foster public awareness in support of a free, united and independent Armenia; to influence and guide U.S. policy on matters of interest to the Armenian American community; to represent the collective Armenian American viewpoint on matters of public policy, while serving as liaison between the community and their elected officials.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The date of the onset of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria.

To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and historians accept this view. The Armenian Genocide has been also recognized by influential media including The New York Times, BBC, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.