Erdoğan slams U.S. House resolutions over so-called Armenian genocide

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the United States on Wednesday, a day after the House of Representatives voted to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide.

"This step has absolutely no value for us. We don't recognize it," Erdoğan told members of his Justice and Development (AK) Party at Turkish parliament.

"A country whose history is stained with genocide, slavery and exploitation has no right to say anything to Turkey or teach Turkey a lesson," he added.

The non-binding resolution on Armenia in the Democrat-controlled House, which passed by a 405-11 vote, was earlier condemned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.
Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to examine the issue.

The US ambassador to Turkey, David Satterfield, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Ankara over both the Armenian vote as well as a bipartisan US bill calling for sanctions on Turkey over its offensive in northern Syria, state news agency Anadolu reported.

"We regret that a slander against our country was accepted in the parliament of a country," Erdoğan said of the House resolution, while emphasizing genocide was strictly prohibited in Islam.

He described both bills as "steps taken solely for [US] domestic political" consumption.

The Foreign Ministry had earlier criticized the sanctions bill, which targets senior Turkish officials and its Armed Forces, as "incompatible with the spirit of [the] NATO alliance."

Relations between the two powerful NATO allies have been strained, among other things, over the conflict in Syria and Washington's support for YPG -- the Syrian extension of the bloody-minded PKK terror group -- and Turkey's purchase of Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile system.