A US congressional panel voted Thursday to label as “genocide” the World War I-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador from Washington. The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 23-22 to approve the non-binding resolution, which calls on President Barack Obama to ensure US policy formally refers to the killings as genocide. The action cleared the way for the measure to be considered by the full House but it was unclear whether it would actually come to a vote there. The Obama administration and Turkey had pressed lawmakers to drop the matter. The vote triggered an immediate condemnation from Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who recalled Turkey's ambassador to Washington for consultations. Erdogan said he worried the measure would harm Turkish-US ties and efforts by Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia to end a century of hostility. The vote put Obama in a tight spot between his desire to maintain good relations with Turkey, a Muslim but secular democracy that plays a vital role for US interests from Iran to Afghanistan to the Middle East. On the one side is NATO ally Turkey, which rejects calling the events genocide. On the other side is an important US Armenian-American constituency and their backers in Congress ahead of congressional elections in November. “We highly appreciate the decision,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told Reuters. “This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity.” The price on Turkey's 2030 benchmark Global Bond did not change after the vote. It remained down 0.44 points in price to 160, yielding 6.465 percent. “I don't think there will be any reaction in the markets unless the political response from Turkey elevates it as an issue,” said A.J. Mediratta, senior managing director at Greylock Capital Management in New York.
