A senior State Department official said on Wednesday that Turkey’s ambassador to the USA should be in Washington to explain Turkey’s cause.
Philip Gordon, assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, spoke to reporters prior to a conference jointly organized by Sabanci University and the Brookings Institute.
Gordon expressed his regret at Ankara’s recall of ambassador Namik Tan after a US congressional committee’s adoption of a resolution describing the killings of Armenians in 1915 as ’genocide’.
He said he would like to see Tan in the US capital, as the Turkish ambassador’s presence in Washington D.C. would help Turkey explain its cause.
Gordon said the ambassador’s withdrawal did not contribute to Turkish-US relations and harmed cooperation between the two countries.
The US official also said that the adoption of the resolution by the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs had not been beneficial for relations either.
Gordon said the US administration had clearly and consistently expressed its objection to the resolution.
He also said the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia was the best way to deal with history.
Noting that the process was not happening as quickly as they would like, Gordon said both countries were committed to the process and the USA was ready to extend any kind of help.
Asked about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent remarks on the status of the 100,000 Armenians living illegally in Turkey, Gordon referred to Erdogan’s remarks that he was not threatening to deport them.
Gordon said the USA would like Erdogan to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April.
Gordon also said that Iran’s nuclear program was a major issue in Turkish-US relations, and therefore, he would like the Turkish ambassador to be in the US capital to discuss the issue.
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