Turkey-US relations to improve if no wrong steps on Armenian issue

"The Turkish nation is ready to struggle altogether (against the efforts to have the Armenian claims recognized in the U.S.). Therefore I hope that the officials in the new U.S. administration will understand the importance of Turkey, the meaning of this issue to the Turkish people and the harm it will bring to the Turkish-American relations," Ambassador Nabi Sensoy told reporters in New York late on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had pledged to recognize the Armenian claims during the election campaign.

So far the Washington administration had stepped in to block the legislations in the Congress that would recognize the Armenian claims due to the strategic partnership between Turkey and the U.S.

Sensoy recalled in 2007 he was called back to Ankara to protest the attempts to have the Armenian claims recognized in the Congress.

"That happened for the first time in our history. This was a protest of the American policy. Everybody understood the seriousness of the issue and retreated from taking such wrong step. Now we face the same danger," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian Agency.

The issue of the 1915 incidents is highly sensitive for Turkey as well as Armenia. Around 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

However Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet in accepting Turkey's proposal of forming a commission to investigate the claims.

TURKEY-ARMENIA CLOSE TO NORMALIZATION

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his hopes for the normalization of the relations with Armenia as well as both sides to open up archives and the Yerevan administration is expected to adopt a similar approach, Sensoy added.

"I am glad to declare that the two countries are close to normalizing relations... I had gone through what happened in 2007 and I don't want to see this period repeated," the ambassador said, adding "We have to focus on the positive sides of the bilateral relations."

He also warned that there is a good chance for Turkey and Armenia to discuss directly the issues unless there is a legislation or statement recognizing the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents.

In a response to a question Sensoy said Obama was invited to the Alliance of Civilizations meeting which will be held in Turkey in April.