WASHINGTON (Anatolian News Agency)—Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with leading members of Congress in Washington on Tuesday to discuss his country’s relations with Israel and the Armenian Genocide resolution, reported Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
According to Hurriyet, Turkish minister said the Israeli attack on a Turkish aid flotilla en route to Gaza earlier this year was a breach of international law and reiterated Turkey’s expectation for the United States to urge Israel to apologize and pay compensation for the attack that killed nine Turkish nationals.
Hurriyet cited unnamed diplomatic sources as saying the purpose of Davutoglu’s visit was to brief US congressmen on Turkey’s perspective regarding several key diplomatic issues. According to those sources, the Turkish Foreign Minister was also in Washington to gauge the views of members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Davutoglu was reported to have also discussed the Armenian Genocide resolution with members of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations. The committee voted to approve the H.Res. 252 last March.
According to Hurriyet, Davutoglu told the members of the committee that any resolution recognizing the Genocide would harm Turkish-U.S. relations.
Earlier on Monday, the Turkish Foreign Minister met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Ton Donilon and European Commissioner for enlargement Stefan Fule.
According to Hurriyet, Davutoglu and Clinton discussed the leaked US cables released over the weekend by WikiLeaks, Iran, the situation in Lebanon, the fight against terrorism, NATO’s Lisbon summit and Cyprus.
He also met with Jeanne Shaheen, the head of the U.S. Senate Sub-committee on European Affairs; John Kerry, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; Steny Hoyer, the U.S. House of Representatives majority leader; Richard Lugar, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; and Howard Berman, the chairman of U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations.
Davutoglu left Washington early Wednesday and proceeded to the Kazakh capital of Astana to attend the OSCE heads of state and government summit.