国际英语新闻：Turkish minister cancels US trip following House panel vote

ANKARA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish State Minister Zafer Caglayan cancelled his trip to the United States in response to the U.S. adoption of a resolution labelling the incidents of 1915 as "genocide," local Daily News reported on its website Tuesday.

Caglayan, who is in charge of foreign trade, was scheduled to depart for the U.S. on March 19 with a large business delegation, according to the report.

The decision was made Monday during a meeting with the Turkish Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan, who had earlier been recalled in a show of protest.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that Turkey would not send back its ambassador to U.S. before seeing clear results, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Attitude of the U.S. in the next period was very important, Erdogan said, adding that he did not believe the U.S. would sacrifice its strategic partner for simple political discussions.

On March 4, Turkey temporarily recalled its ambassador to the U. S. Namik Tan minutes after a U.S. congressional panel approved a resolution concerning Turkey.

The resolution on Armenian allegations related to the incidents of 1915 was adopted at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs in a voting of 23-22.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols last October to normalize relations; however, parliaments of the two countries have not passed them yet.

Turkey strongly rejects genocide allegations and regards the events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks and Armenians.

Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in the row over the deaths of Armenians and have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia declared its independence in 1991.