Quake Kills at Least 3 in Turkey

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday in the same region hit by a larger quake two weeks ago killed at least three people and trapped others who had moved into damaged buildings that collapsed Wednesday, the Turkish media ...

Karzai warms to idea of talking to Taliban in Turkey

Afghan President Hamid Karzai prays at a mosque during an Ashura procession in Kabul on December 16, 2010

President Hamid Karzai said yesterday the Afghan government would welcome any offer by Turkey to facilitate talks with the Taliban that could help bring an end to the conflict in his homeland.

More than 700 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year — nearly a third of the total in over nine years of war.

While US-led Nato forces have applied a surge strategy there is also a search on for ways to bring about a political solution as a countdown begins for the withdrawal of troops.

US President Barack Obama has promised to begin pulling out US forces in 2011, and Nato has agreed to end combat operations and hand security responsiblity to the Afghan army by the end of 2014.

Speaking in Istanbul at the end of a trilateral summit between Turkey, Afghaninstan and Pakistan, Karzai said “dignitaries” close to the Taliban had suggested Turkey could become a venue for talks if the Taliban were allowed to establish some kind of representation there.

“The idea of Turkey serving as a place where gatherings can take place, where representation can be established in order to facilitate reconstruction and reintegration has been discussed,” Karzai told a joint news conference with his counterparts from Turkey and Pakistan.




“If Turkey can be kind enough to provide such a venue we, the government of Afghanistan, will be happy and pleased to see this facilitation take place.”

Karzai had been asked to comment on an interview with a former Taliban official, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The proposal for the Taliban to be allowed to establish some kind of diplomatic presence in Turkey surfaced in the interview.

President Abdullah Gul of Turkey said he had not seen the report but voiced support in general terms.

“Whatever will serve the future reconstruction of Afghanistan — we will be there,” Gul said.

This was the fifth in a series of the trilateral summits held in Turkey, with the aim of building greater trust between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Whereas Western government can tend to apply pressure in dealings with the Afghan and Pakistani governments, Turkey is able to operate at a different level diplomatically, being a fellow Muslim country with historically warm ties with both.

Turkey has troops serving in non-combat roles with Nato forces in Afghanistan, and also has well established military-to-military contacts with Pakistan.

The Afghan and Pakistani militaries are cooperating with Nato forces to fight the Taliban and Islamist militants who run with al Qaeda.

But according to some analysts, Afghan and Pakistani intelligence agencies suspect each other of secretly encouraging militant factions to launch attacks to destabilise each other’s governments in the hope of winning greater influence once Western forces leave the region.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari denied that the Pakistan military’s Inter-Services Intelligence was supporting the Taliban, but said there were “non-state actors” who were helping the militants.

“Let me assure you that the ISI is not involved with the Taliban,” Zardari said.

Gul stressed the need for the intelligence services to work together and a statement issued at the end of the summit said the heads of three countrie’s intelligence agencies had met in Istanbul on Dec. 2-3.

Turkish group may send new mission to Gaza

The Mavi Marmara (second from left) is towed by a Turkish tugboat (right) as it leaves the port of Haifa on August 5, 2010 after it was released by Israel.

The group behind a convoy to Gaza that ended when Israeli forces stormed the ships and killed nine activists said today it may use the vessels for another run on the blockade.

Israel released the three ships this week after sending the Turkish Foreign Ministry a message that said it expected Turkey to prevent the vessels, which arrived in the east Mediterranean port of Iskenderun earlier today, from attempting to reach Hamas-run Gaza again.

Huseyin Oruc, a board member at the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH), which owns the ships, told Reuters TV that if the blockade on Gaza continued, the boats may take part in another mission.

“If the problem is not solved, many flotillas ... will sail to Gaza. If necessary, these boats can also be used for this,” Oruc said.





“We have purchased these three boats for Palestinian needs. If it is necessary, we can use easily use them. These boats are humanitarian boats.”

Before releasing the ships, Israel, which had impounded the vessels after the May 31 raid, had unsuccessfully sought a promise that they would not be sent to Gaza again.

The raid caused a deep rift in relations between Israel and Turkey, once its closest Muslim ally. Turkey demanded an apology, withdrew its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises with Israel.

Turkey also listed the return of the vessels as one of several conditions for normalising relations.

The converted cruise liner Mavi Marmara, on which the pro-Palestinian activists were shot, and two cargo ships were accompanied by Turkish tugboats from Israel because their motors were not functioning.

The Mavi Marmara appeared to be freshly painted, though signs in Hebrew and Arabic script were still visible. Clothing and personal effects could be seen through the ship’s windows, and what appeared to be a bullet hole near the captain’s cabin was seen from the nearby shore.

Oruc said the boats had been painted to cover bullet holes and other evidence.

“Thousands of bullets hit the boat, and it was damaged everywhere. When they captured the boats, the Israelis hid all of this proof on the outside of the boat. They have been repaired and were painted,” he said.

Local officials told reporters prosecutors would board the ships on Monday to investigate for evidence of what happened during the raid.

Israel has admitted to mistakes, but said its marines were justified in using lethal force because the Marmara’s activists had attacked them with clubs, knives and guns.

It also has taken fence-mending measures, such as easing overland trade to Gaza and lifting a travel advisory to Turkey for Israeli tourists.

Turkish Airlines grounds overweight staff

File photo of an overweight person. Turkish Airlines has grounded 28 flight attendants for being overweight

Turkish Airlines has grounded 28 flight attendants for being overweight and given them six months to slim down or face reassignment, a newspaper said today.

The employees, 13 of whom are women, are on unpaid leave until they lose weight, Haber Turk daily said, citing a statement from state-run Turkish Airlines. All of them previously had been warned to shape up, it added.





“Weight and height are important factors at all airlines. These criteria are important both in terms of appearance and the ability to move about,” the statement said.

No one was available over the weekend at Turkish Airlines, Europe’s fourth largest carrier by passenger volume, to confirm the report.

Izzet Levi, head of a cabin attendants’ association who was among those furloughed, told Haber Turk he must drop 10kg to reach 96kg if he is to return to his post.

Roadside bomb kills four in military bus as Kurdish separatists step up attacks on Turkish army

Blast: A remote controlled roadside bomb has killed three Turkish soldiers and a 17-year-old girl in Istanbul

Violence: The Turkish army has stepped up military operations against Kurdish rebels in the south east of the country

Four people were killed after a roadside bomb destroyed a bus carrying military personnel and their families in Istanbul today.

The remote controlled device was detonated near a military housing complex in the district of Halkali and comes after the Turkish army stepped up operations against Kurdish rebels.



Carnage: Forensic officers search for evidence near the shattered bus, which was carrying military personnel

Three of those killed were Turkish army sergeants and the fourth victim was a 17-year-old girl, according to state news agency Anatolian.The blast wounded nearly a dozen people and two were left in a serious condition, Istanbul's provincial governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said.

'This is a terrorist attack, and the aim of the attack is clear - to create divisions, tensions and despair,' he said.

No group has yet come forward to claim responsibility for the blast.

Kurdish separatists, based in northern Iraq, have increased attacks on military installations in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south east, but the group has carried out attacks in large cities in the past.

Left wing groups and Islamist militants have also carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul.

The city is due to host a summit of south east European leaders, including foreign ministers from Croatia and Serbia, today.
Turkish military forces began a major deployment of troops and special forces along the border with Iraq yesterday, as fighting has intensified between the army and militants from the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Television broadcasts showed images of the bus's shattered windows and of the wounded being taken to hospital after the explosion at around 5.30am.

It is unclear how many passengers were on the bus or how many were military personnel.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has said Kurdish militants would 'drown in their own blood', faces mounting criticism for his government's failure to stop the escalation in violence.

PKK guerrillas killed 11 soldiers at the weekend and one soldier was also killed on Monday when separatists opened fire on two military police units.

The PKK said earlier this month it had scrapped a year-old unilateral ceasefire and resumed attacks against Turkish forces because of military operations against it.

Some 40,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms to carve out an ethnic homeland in mostly Kurdish southeastern Turkey.

Inside Story - Turkey's role in the Middle East-Activist Onboard Flotilla: 'Beaten', 'Tasered'

Israel dumps British activists in Turkey without passports or money after bloody Gaza raid

Irish activist Shane Dillon arrives back at Dublin Airport after he was deported from Israel. Dillon can't hide his emotions as he hugs his girlfriend

Crossing Jordan: Pro-Palestinian activists who were aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla raided by Israel arrive in Jordan

Release: Pro-Palestinian activists who were aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla raided by Israel on Monday are bussed into Jordan from the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge which links Jordan with the West Bank

Daddy's home: Palestinian aid flotilla attack survivor Hasan Nowarah is greeted by his son at Glasgow Airport. He was the first of 42 Britons detained in Israel to be allowed to return home

Bestselling Swedish author Henning Mankell, who was also on board the aid convoy, speaks to media upon arriving at Landvetter Airport, outside Gothenburg, after being deported from Israel

British activists seized during the bloody raid on Gaza aid ships were kicked out of Israel last night and flown to Turkey without passports or money.

The 29 Britons had no choice but to fly to Istanbul, from where they will have to find their own way home.

They were among 700 protesters from the ships set free from an Israeli desert prison.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein declared that 'keeping them here would do more damage to the country's vital interests than good'.

The release followed days of terrible PR for the Jewish state after its deadly commando raid on six ships carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. At least nine people died in Monday's bloodbath on the Mavi Marmara.

Israel claims its commandos were forced to shoot after being attacked with knives and clubs.



Yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that on the Mavi Marmara, 'we saw an action directed by terrorists affiliated with Hamas. This was not the Love Boat. It was a hate boat.'

The surviving protesters were captured and taken to Israel. The injured were placed in hospital - including one British man who remains there - and 679 were shut up in prison.

Last night embassy officials in Tel Aviv said there were 36 Britons in the aid flotilla, not 42 as previously reported, and that 29 were deported on the planes provided by the Turkish government.

With one in hospital, and one deported on Tuesday, that leaves five Britons whose exact whereabouts are unknown.

A spokesman for the embassy said there was no time to help with emergency passports, but that consular staff were standing by in Istanbul to provide them.

The Government is under no obligation to fly the protesters home, however.

Prime Minister David Cameron told the Commons that Israel should lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip
Mr Cameron said he deplored the loss of life, and added: 'Friends of Israel - and I count myself a friend of Israel - should be saying to the Israelis that the blockade actually strengthens Hamas's grip on the economy and on Gaza.'

But David Miliband, the shadow foreign secretary, said the Government had not been strong enough in condemning the violence, and that the protesters had a right to consular support.

A private Irish aid ship with a cargo of medical supplies is still determined to reach Gaza. The MV Rachel Corrie, carrying 15 activists including Northern Irish Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, expects to reach the point where Israeli commandos raided the flotilla later this week.

Irish prime minister Brian Cowen has appealed to Israel to let it through - even though the ship is also carrying concrete, a material banned under the blockade.

Turkish Ship Activists Funeral, Israel Defiant-Israel rejects int'l probe into raid as new Gaza Flotilla about to sail-Turkey flies activists home after Israeli raid-Raw Video: Flotilla Activists Return to Turkey

Turks pray for Gaza victims as activists fly home

Turks pray for Gaza victims as activists fly home.


Israel: the Zionist state and its Palestinian neighbours


Around three thousand demonstrators gathered in the Cape Town city centre to protest against Israel's attack


Tens of thousands of people take part in the funeral service in Istanbul

Tens of thousands of angry Turks chanted anti-Israeli slogans at funeral prayers for victims of the Gaza aid flotilla attack, after activists detained in the raid flew home to a heroes' welcome.

Meanwhile the Jewish state suffered a new diplomatic blow when South Africa recalled its ambassador in protest at Israel's commando assault Monday in which nine people were killed.

And a new boat carrying Malaysian and Irish activists was set to arrive off Gaza at the weekend.



But US Vice President Joe Biden said Israel had a right to act as it did and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell warned that the tragedy should not be allowed to undermine the peace process.

Israel, which says it will not allow any attempt to pierce its blockade of the Palestinian enclave, rejected moves to set up an international inquiry into the incident.

"Damn Israel! Israel is the angel of death!" chanted the crowd in Istanbul's Fatih Mosque, as the coffins of eight activists were laid on marble stands, covered with both Turkish and Palestinian flags.

Others in the crowd -- estimated by local television to number up to 20,000 -- shouted "We are all soldiers of Hamas," referring to the Palestinian Islamist movement, which controls the Gaza Strip.

During the night about 1,000 people, also shouting slogans against Isarel, packed Istanbul airport to greet planes that brought back 485 activists, 19 of them wounded, and nine bodies from Israel.

The dead were eight Turks and a US national of Turkish origin, officials said. All were shot, according to forensic experts quoted by Anatolia news agency.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said that ties with Israel "will never be the same" after the attack, adding: "Israel has made the biggest mistake in its history."

But Biden said Israel has the right to protect its security by boarding ships heading for Gaza, while adding that Washington would cajole its ally on the plight of the Palestinians.

The White House has so far refused to explicitly single out the Israeli government for blame.

"The truth of the matter is, Israel has a right to know -- they're at war with Hamas... whether or not arms are being smuggled in," Biden said in an interview on PBS television.

Bulent Yildirim, head of the Islamic charity Foundation of Humanitarian Relief which spearheaded the Gaza aid fleet, said Israeli soldiers fired indiscriminately when they stormed the Mavi Marmara ferry, one of six vessels trying to get through the blockade around the Palestinian enclave.

He said activists used iron bars against the Israeli forces "in self defence". They also seized the soldiers' weapons but threw them in the sea rather than using them, he added.

Israel has said the commandos only opened fire after they came under attack with clubs, knives, guns and other weapons. It said however that the only firearms found afterwards were two pistols taken from soldiers, whose magazines were empty.

Yildrim said the death toll was higher than announced. Separately a Spanish activist on the flotilla, Manuel Tapial, said between 16 and 20 were killed.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will travel to Turkey on Monday to pay his condolences to the Turkish people and meet President Gul.

From Turkey, Abbas will fly to the United States to ask President Barack Obama to make "bold decisions" on Middle East peace when they meet on Wednesday.

Israel rejected a bid by the UN Human Rights Council to set up an investigation, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed that the Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States -- join the probe.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also said that "having international observers named by the Quartet part of the investigation would be an important gesture of detente on Israel's part."

The quartet is seeking a resolution to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

US Middle East envoy Mitchell said Monday's "tragedy (...) cannot be allowed to spiral out of control and undermine the limited but real progress that has been made" in the Middle East peace process.

"The United States deeply regrets the tragic loss of life and injuries suffered among those involved in the incident aboard the Gaza-bound ships," he said in the West Bank city of Bethlehem..

"What has happened makes your work here and moving forward even more critical," he added.

Organisers say another ship was heading for Gaza despite the risk of more violence and could arrive there on Saturday. The Rachel Corrie, carrying building supplies along with Irish and Malaysian activists, is in the Mediterranean.

'We've found Noah's Ark!'... claim evangelical explorers on mission to snow-capped Ararat (but British scientists say 'show us your evidence')

The snow-capped peak of Mt. Ararat. The discovery is said to have been made 12,000ft up the mountain which lies in eastern Turkey

Wooden beams which the explorers said they found at the site. The search for the physical remains of Noah's Ark has held a fascination for Christians, Jews and Muslims for hundreds of years. But despite various claims no scientific evidence has ever been found

This picture released by the evangelical group claims to show one of the explorers examining part of a structure which they claim might prove the existence of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat. There are no external images of the site and the Hong Kong-based group refuse to say precisely where they made their discovery until the Turkish government designate it an archaeological site

This photo, also put out by the evangelical group, is said to show part of a wall inside the structure found by the explorers. One of the team said: 'It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it'

In 2006, U.S. national security analyst Porcher Taylor claimed this satellite image revealed a baffling 'anomaly' on the mountain's north-west corner that he believed to be the remains of the Ark

As believers in the literal truth of the Bible, they knew it was there.

Even so, the explorers who say they found seven large wooden compartments beneath snow and volcanic debris near the peak of Mount Ararat can be forgiven their excitement.

'It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark, but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it,' said Yeung Wing-cheung, a filmmaker working with the 15-strong team of fundamentalist Christians exploring the Turkish mountain.They said wood taken from the site, which is more than 13,000ft above sea level, dates to 2,800BC. If it is the ark, the discovery would be the greatest in the history of archaeology and bear out one of the most famous stories in the Bible.

The team of Turks and Chinese researchers from Noah's Ark Ministries International in Hong Kong say they made the discovery on Ararat - the biblical resting place of the ark - in October.






At a press conference yesterday to announce the discovery, another team member, Panda Lee, said: 'I saw a structure built with plank-like timber.

'Each plank was about eight inches wide. I could see tenons, proof of ancient construction predating the use of metal nails.

'We walked about 100 metres to another site. I could see broken wood fragments embedded in a glacier, and some 20 metres long.'

The structure had several compartments, some with wooden beams, the team said.

The wooden walls of one compartment were smooth and curved while the video shown by the explorers revealed doors, staircases and nails.

The team said the wood appeared to be cypress although, according to the Bible, the ark was built from gopher.

The group ruled out identifying the find as a human settlement, saying none had been found so high up in that area. They are keeping the exact location secret.

Four years ago and following a decade of research, U.S. national security analyst Porcher Taylor claimed a satellite image revealed a baffling 'anomaly' on the mountain's north-west corner that he believed to be the remains of the Ark.

But Mike Pitt, a British archaeologist, said the evangelical explorers had yet to produce compelling evidence.

He added: 'If there had been a flood capable of lifting a huge ship 4km up the side of a mountain 4,800 years ago, I think there would be substantial geological evidence for this flood around the world. And there isn't.'
Nicholas Purcell, a lecturer in ancient history at Oxford University, said the claims were the 'usual nonsense'. He added: 'If floodwaters covered Eurasia 12,000ft deep in 2,800BC, how did the complex societies of Egypt and Mesopotamia, already many centuries old, keep right on regardless?'

According to Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament, Noah was told to build the ark by God, who wanted to flood the world to punish sinners.

The story was widely seen as fact until the 19th century, when scientists began to question the evidence for a worldwide flood.

GOD'S COMMAND

In the Bible, the story of Noah's Ark appears in chapters six to nine of the Book of Genesis.It tells how God, spurred by the wickedness and corruption of man, vows to send a great cleansing flood. Deeming Noah to be the only righteous man worth saving, God commands him to build a vast ship, the ark - capable of saving himself, his family and a representation of the world's animals.

When Noah has completed his task, and God has sent 'two of every sort' of animal to the Ark, the flood waters rise until all mountains are covered and life (except fish) is destroyed. When the flood subsides, the animals leave the Ark and God vows to never again send a flood to destroy man. The story can also be found in the texts of Judaism and Islam. Although considered a historical event, most scholars and archaeologists do not believe in a literal interpretation of the Ark story. The vessel was said to measure '300 cubits, by 50 cubits, by 30 cubits', which translates to up to 515ft long, 86ft wide and 52ft high.

Turkey warns Sweden of damage to ties over 'genocode' vote-Turkey recalls envoy to Sweden over Armenia vote

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Turkey's Ambassador to Stockholm, Zergun Koruturk


Spectators in Sweden's parliament


Turkey warned Sweden Friday of "serious" damage to ties after the Swedish parliament recognized the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, only days after a similar vote by a US Congressional panel.

The foreign ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to convey Ankara's protests, while the Turkish envoy to Stockholm, recalled immediately after Thursday's vote, arrived home for consultations.

"It is up to the government to decide, but I think (the vote) will have serious consequences" on bilateral relations, Ambassador Zergun Koruturk told reporters after landing in Istanbul.

She lamented that the vote came at a time when "we had excellent ties with Sweden and it was at the forefront of countries supporting our European Union membership process."

Turkey expects Sweden to "take serious steps to compensate" for the decision, a Turkish diplomat told AFP after the Swedish ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry.

The envoy, Christer Asp, said after the meeting that Thursday's decision was not binding for the government and vowed to maintain the "strong, friendly" ties with Turkey.

Going against the government's advice, the Swedish parliament voted by a narrow margin to recognize the "genocide of Armenians" during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, further infuriating Ankara by mentioning also other Christian communities as victims of "genocide" in Ottoman hands.

Ankara quickly recalled its ambassador and cancelled next week's visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sweden.

The vote came a week after the US House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly approved a non-binding resolution branding the massacres of Armenians a genocide, prompting Ankara to recall its ambassador.

"Those decisions... will have a negative impact on Turkish-Armenian ties which we have been trying to normalise," Erdogan said in a televised speech in northwestern Turkey.

Ankara "will not be deterred by and will not bow to those fait accomplis, to those ill-willed actions and irresponsible attitudes," he added.

A government statement late Thursday accused Swedish lawmakers of backing the move out of "domestic political calculations" ahead of elections in September.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said it was a "mistake to politicise history" and vowed that the government's position remains unchanged.

Sweden is among the few countries which openly support Turkey's troubled EU accession bid.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet Bildt Friday or Saturday on the sidelines of an informal European gathering in Finland, a diplomatic source said.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in a systematic campaign of extermination during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.

Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label, arguing that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks were killed in civil strife when Armenians rose up for independence and sided with invading Russian forces.

But much to Ankara's ire, parliaments in several countries have recognized the killings as genocide.

Setting up an independent body of historians to study the events is one of the measures foreseen under a historic deal Turkey and Armenia signed in October to establish diplomatic relations and open their border.

But the process has already stalled, with Ankara accusing Yerevan of trying to change the terms of the deal and Yerevan charging that Ankara is not committed to ratifying the accord.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Sweden on Thursday and canceled an upcoming summit between the countries after the Swedish parliament branded the World War One killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces genocide.

The move comes only a week after Ankara called home its ambassador to the United States because a U.S. congressional committee approved a similar resolution.

European Union member Sweden has been one of the strongest supporters of Ankara's bid to join the bloc, while the United States is generally considered a strong western ally of the NATO-member Turkey.

The issue of the Armenian massacres is deeply sensitive in Turkey, which accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks but vehemently denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide -- a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments.

"We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement, referring to the Swedish parliament vote.

"It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We are recalling our ambassador for consultations," Erdogan said, adding that he was cancelling a Turkey-Sweden summit scheduled for March 17.

The Swedish resolution passed by an extremely narrow margin, with 131 parliamentarians voting in favor and 130 against. Another 88 members of parliament were absent.

The measure was opposed by Sweden's center-right coalition government, but three of their parliamentarians voted in favor of the motion, helping the opposition get it through.

"DRASTIC EFFECTS"

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a blog post that the vote could complicate efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations after a century of hostility.

The countries agreed last year to establish diplomatic ties and open their border if their parliaments approved peace accords, but the votes have not taken place and the governments have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts.

"The decision also doesn't help the debate in Turkey, which has become all the more open and tolerant as it moves closer to the European Union and resulting democratic reform," Bildt said.

Zergun Koruturk, Turkey's ambassador to Sweden, told Swedish television programme Aktuellt that the vote would have "drastic effects" on bilateral relations which were unlikely to be overcome in a short time.

"I am very disappointed," Koruturk said. "Unfortunately, parliamentarians were thinking that they were rather historians than parliamentarians, and it's very, very unfortunate."

A Turkish government source, however, told Reuters that Koruturk would probably return to Sweden soon.

"We know the Swedish government has been very active in trying to stop this resolution," the source said.

Turkey has signaled that its ambassador to the United States will not return until the fate of the non-binding congressional resolution, which also passed by a razor-thin margin, is clear.

The administration of President Barack Obama has vowed to stop the resolution from going further in Congress in a bid to limit the diplomatic fallout. Turkey is crucial to U.S. interests in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Turkish PM says U.S. vote to "greatly harm" ties-Turkish furor over U.S. resolution on genocide

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Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara March 2, 2010

Turks are up in arms over the passing of a resolution by an American congressional committee on Thursday recognizing the killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.

Immediately after the 23-22 vote in favor of the resolution came in, the Prime Minister's Office released a statement warning of the consequences of the decision.

A press release by the government stated the result had been " met with sorrow" and denounced the resolution accusing the Turkish people of a crime they did not commit. Turkey's official, and popular, stance has been that no genocide was committed in 1915 and it regards the events as civil strife in wartime claiming the lives of many Turks and Armenians.

Turks have been very sensitive to genocide allegations; the president of the Human Rights Association Ozturk Turkdogan told Xinhua, "When the word genocide comes up, Turks just shut their ears."

Turkdogan added, "Turkey is an ideological nation-state, and like other ideological nation-states, it has difficulty facing up to its past."

Former Democratic Left Party (DSP) parliamentarian Teoman Akgur told Xinhua that the resolution will not pass in the long run, as "some hero will block it before it becomes a bill." Similar non- binding resolutions had been passed by the House of Representatives' Foreign Relations Committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but all of which had been blocked by White House pressure from going to a general House vote.

Yet the office of the prime minister warned, "We worry that the passing of this resolution by the committee despite all our admonitions might harm Turkish-U.S. relations and might halt the Turkey-Armenia normalization process."

Retired Consul General Mengu Buyukdavras told Xinhua that because Turkey and America have enjoyed a special relationship since the 1950s, "Turkey will not be quick to forgive and forget America's passing of the resolution, but it would be the Turkish- Armenian relationship that would suffer the most."

INFLUENCE ON TURKEY-ARMENIA TIES

Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in the row over the deaths of Armenians and have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia declared its independence in 1991.

In October, the two countries signed historic deals on normalizing ties and reopening their borders after decades of hostilities. The agreements need to be ratified by both countries' parliaments before taking effect.

Regarding the "normalization protocols" signed in Zurich last October, writer and journalist Cengiz Aktar told Xinhua, "It is now impossible to bring them up for approval, even the (ruling) Justice and Development Party's parliamentarians might not support it. The normalization process is now in deep-freeze."

Burak Kuntay, head of the American Research Center at Bahcesehir University, told Xinhua that relations with Armenia had been progressing positively in recent years, but "being labeled murderers from the other side of the world can only hurt this process."

Kuntay is certain that the resolution would not pass. He said the close 23-22 vote was a victory for Turkey.

But according to him, this would not have much of an impact on U.S.-Turkey relations: the House of Representatives has already passed a resolution in 1974 recognizing the genocide and in 1981 former U.S. President Ronald Reagan used the word "genocide" in a speech.

"Relations might not be as they were before, but that too will settle into a routine," Kuntay added.

MEDIA FUELLING FLAMES

Turkdogan, Aktar and Kuntay agree that this affair has been blown out of proportion by the media, which has been skewing information. Kuntay said the media has been presenting the issue as if the House has already accepted genocide, when it is just a sub-committee passing a non-binding resolution similar to previous ones shot down by the administration.

As for Turkey's ambassador to Washington Namik Tan being recalled to Ankara for consultation Thursday night, Turkey also took similar action in 2007 House vote, but soon its then ambassador Nabi Sensoy returned back to duty.

Yet Kuntay admits the media plays a great role in how the public perceive this, and Aktar said "Turkey already sees this as Americans having accepted the Armenian genocide, and that this amounted to a public diplomacy disaster."