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Turkish government condemns U.S. for genocide resolution

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Turkey has called the resolution adopted by a House of Representatives committee classing the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide a move that spoils relations between the two countries.
ANKARA, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - Turkey has called the resolution adopted by a House of Representatives committee classing the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide a move that spoils relations between the two countries.

"The most unjust action one nation can do to another is to accuse it of committing genocide. This action cannot be explained as hailing from the friendship and partnership typical of bilateral relations (between Turkey and the U.S.)," Cemil Cicek, a Turkish government spokesman said on Monday.

Turkey is currently considering the suspension of military cooperation with the U.S. over the genocide ruling.

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed the document on Wednesday despite opposition from President Bush. Turkey is a key NATO ally and a crucial U.S. partner in operations in Iraq.

The Turkish NTV television channel said Turkey's final reaction to the document would be announced after discussions in parliament scheduled for early next week.

NTV said Turkey might restrict U.S. use of a joint air base in Incirlik, close off its air space to U.S. warplanes, and ban Armenian aircraft from flying over its territory. The majority of supplies for U.S. troops in Iraq, including fuel and military hardware, pass through Turkey.

The U.S. resolution has triggered an angry response from Ankara, which insists that the deaths and deportations of Armenians at the end of the Ottoman period were caused by civil war rather than deliberate genocide. However, the majority of Western academics qualify the massacre as genocide.

The Turkish government released a statement on Wednesday condemning the move by the House of Representatives, saying that Ankara could not admit a crime the Turkish people never committed.

The press service of Turkish President Abdullah Gul quoted him as saying that the U.S. resolution was "petty domestic politics rejecting calls to common sense."

Ankara previously froze military cooperation with France after its parliamentarians passed a similar resolution.

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