US assures Turkey about 'Armenian genocide' bill

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John A. Boehner Tuesday gave assurance to Turkey that the Congress will not get involved in any "Armenian genocide" bill.



"The issue about Armenians comes up to the agenda (of Congress) from time to time. Don't worry. Our Congress will not get involved in this issue, we are not writing history, we are also not historians," Boehner told reporters after his meetings with Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Cemil Cicek, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.



The US speaker said that his country seeks to boost bilateral ties with Ankara, expressing gratitude for Turkey's support on issues such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.



Turkish speaker Cicek stressed that resolutions about claims of Armenian genocide that are brought to the agenda of the US Congress are "burden" in bilateral relations.



The world's parliaments should "build present and future, whereas history should be left to the historians," Cicek noted.



An "Armenian genocide" resolution about incidents of 1915 has been passed at the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee last Thursday.



The Armenian government said up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in 1915 and 1916 by the forces of Ottoman Empire in a bid of "genocide."



Turkey argues that only 500,000 Armenians died in fighting and starvation during the World War I, and denies this was genocide.





