The United States would welcome the return of the ambassador, but that is ultimately a decision for Turkey, a U.S. official said.
“We have had a number of conversations with officials in Turkey. We have encouraged them to return the ambassador to Washington. We think it’s very important to have him here. But that is a decision for Turkey,” Mr. Philip Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Public Affairs, said during a daily press briefing in Washington, D.C.
Asked to comment on the ongoing Armenia-Turkey dialogue, he said, “We continue to talk to Turkey about the steps that both Turkey and Armenia need to take in terms of normalization, fulfilling their mutual responsibilities under the protocols signed last year, and we continue to encourage them to take those important steps. But we were talking about all of these issues with the Secretary of State and the Foreign Minister.”
Turkish ambassador to Washington Namik Tan was recalled immediately after the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution, H.Res.252, by the U.S. House panel on March 4, 2010.
