The Obama administration on Friday sought to limit fallout from a US resolution branding the World War I-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces as “genocide,” and vowed to stop it from going further in Congress. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also urged Washington to block the resolution. “We expect the US administration to make more efficient efforts from now on” to stop the resolution from advancing to a vote at the full House of Representatives, he said, adding that Ankara was “seriously disturbed” by Thursday's vote. A Democratic leadership aide told Reuters there were no plans “at this point” to schedule a vote of the full House on the measure, and a State Department official said this was the administration's understanding as well. “We believe it will stop where it is now,” the State Department official said. The resolution squeaked through the House Foreign Affairs Committee 23-22 Thursday despite a last-minute appeal against it from the Obama administration. The issue puts President Barack Obama between Turkey, a secular Muslim democracy that looks toward the West, and Armenian-Americans, an important constituency in states like California and New Jersey, ahead of the November congressional elections. After the committee's vote Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned of possible damage to ties with the United States. On Friday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said chances of Turkey's parliament ratifying peace protocols with Christian Armenia were jeopardized by the vote on the 1915 massacres. “The Obama administration strongly opposes the resolution that was passed by only one vote in the House committee and will work very hard to make sure it does not go to the House floor,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Guatemala City. There was also anger in Baku, Azerbaijan, a close Muslim and Turkic-speaking ally of Turkey. Its parliament warned that the US resolution could “reduce to zero all previous efforts” to resolve a long-standing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The resolution urges Obama to use the term “genocide” when he delivers his annual message on the Armenian massacres in April. He avoided using the term last year although as a presidential candidate he said the killings were genocide.
