Azerbaijan, Baku, March 5 / Trend R.Hafizoglu /
It is wrong to use fictional facts for political purposes and the adoption of a resolution recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide is the wrong step from the U.S. Congress towards such an important ally like Turkey, Turkish MP and Azerbaijan-Turkey Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Co-chair Mustafa Kabakchi said.
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted Thursday a resolution recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide with 23 votes to 22.
Armenia claims that the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. Making greater efforts to promote the issue internationally, Armenians have achieved its recognition by parliaments of some countries.
"This decision [the adoption of the resolution] does not matter for Turkey because the U.S. Congress and historians do not have any official documents that prove that the 1915 events were genocide," he told Trend over the phone.
The problem should be solved not by politicians, but by the study of historical sources, he said.
Kabakchi regarded as wrong the use of fictional facts for political purposes, given that the Turkish policy is not dependent on external pressure.
"The U.S. Congress and the government should understand that Turkey has already passed the stage when its policy was dictated by pressure from external forces," the MP said.
Prior to the discussions, the U.S. President Barack Obama advised the Congress not to adopt the resolution, CNN Turk reported.
Meanwhile the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a telephone conversation with the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. Congress said that the adoption of resolution jeopardizes the Armenian-Turkish protocols.
Turkish MPs called the committee's decision "a blow to U.S.-Turkish relations," adding that Turkey may waive the protocols signed with Armenia or amend them, as the Armenian Constitutional Court did.
U.S.-Turkish relations have reached a higher level and the U.S. should not risk the progress made in resolving Armenian-Turkish relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said March 4.
Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been frozen due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide and its occupation of Azerbaijani lands. The border between them has been closed since 1993.
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