Ankara: Turkey's ambassador to the United States is expected to return soon to his post after a row over a US House panel vote branding the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide, a Turkish diplomat said on Thursday.
"A decision has been made in principle for his return," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Ambassador Namik Tan is expected to return to Washington before April 12 when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "will very probably" go to the United States for a nuclear security summit, she said.
Ankara recalled the envoy on March 04 immediately after the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution branding the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told his US counterpart Hillary Clinton in a phone conversation that stopping the bill from advancing to a vote at the full House was of "critical" importance for bilateral ties, officials said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, April 01, 2010, 14:29