土耳其政府拒绝承认对亚美尼亚的“种族灭绝行为”

Turkey has reacted angrily to a US congressional panel's resolution describing as genocide killings¹ of Armenians in World War I.

美国国会委员会通过决议，认定土耳其在一战期间对亚美尼亚人采取种族灭绝政策，此决议遭到土耳其强烈抗议。

Armenian-Americans have lobbied for official use of the word "genocid"  

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had been accused of a crime it did not commit, adding the resolution would harm Turkish-US relations.

Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations²（磋商，咨询） and says it is considering other responses.

Correspondents say it is still an extremely sensitive issue in Turkey.

The government of Turkey, a key American ally（同盟国，助手） and fellow Nato member, had lobbied hard for the American Congress not to vote on the issue.

The White House had also warned that the vote would harm reconciliation³（和解） talks between Turkey and Armenia（亚美尼亚） .

Delegation⁴

The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

It calls on President Barack Obama to ensure that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide" and to label the World War I killings as such in his annual（年度的） statement on the issue.

It was approved by 23 votes to 22 by the committee.

A Turkish parliamentary delegation had gone to Washington to try to persuade committee members to reject the resolution.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says Turkey must be hoping that, as with a similar resolution two years ago, the issue will not come to the floor of the House for a full vote.

In 2007, it passed the committee stage, but was shelved after pressure from the George W Bush administration.

Turkey accepts that atrocities⁵（残忍，暴行） were committed but argues they were part of the war and that there was no systematic⁶ attempt to destroy the Christian⁷ Armenian people.

The Armenian government welcomed the vote, calling it "an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity".

'Too important'

During his election campaign Mr Obama promised to brand the mass killings genocide.

In October last year, Turkey and Armenia signed a historic accord normalising relations between them after a century of hostility⁸（敌意） .

Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were deported⁹ en masse（全体地） from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.

Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as genocide - and more than 20 countries have done so.