Turkish PM blasts genocide resolution

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Washington on Monday, said Congress has taken a "commonsensical approach" by pulling consideration of the Armenian genocide resolution.

Erdogan, who met with President Bush for about an hour at the White House and then spoke with journalists at the National Press Club, said Turkey views the delay of the bill "with cautious optimism."

Turkey strongly objects to the resolution by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, which calls on the U.S. to recognize the massacres and deportations of Armenians in post-World War I Ottoman Turkey as genocide. The resolution passed the House Foreign Relations Committee, but caused a firestorm as it moved to the House floor.

Turkey threatened to close critical supply routes to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan if the bill passed, prompting several lawmakers to withdraw their support for it. Schiff ultimately decided he no longer had the votes to pass the resolution and asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay consideration until at least next year.

Said Erdogan, ``The political judgement of Turkey is sad for us to see.''