Speaking at a meeting of the American-Turkish Council in Washington, Ambassador Ross Wilson said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Dan Fried had launched several initiatives about the draft bill.
The text of the draft bill calls on the US to recognise claims that the Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against its Armenian citizens during World War One. Turkey strongly rejects any such allegations.
Wilson said that Turkey, as a powerful country in its region, could guide Armenia and that relations should move on from 1915.
Turkish Ambassador to the United States Nabi Sensoy said in his address to the meeting that the draft bills on so-called Armenian genocide, submitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate, could affect Turkish-US ties in near future.
“Turkish people are quite sensitive over these issues. And any government cannot ignore views of its own people,” he said.
