ANKARA - Turkey said on Friday chances of its parliament ratifying peace protocols with Armenia were jeopardised by a US congressional panel vote that labelled as "genocide" the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Turkey and its fellow Muslim ally, Azerbaijan, saw the U.S. vote undermining efforts to stabilise the South Caucasus, a volatile region with pipelines taking oil and gas to the West. "This decision will not bring peace to the Caucasus," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference hours after Turkey recalled its ambassador from Washington. Turkish leaders reacted with fury after the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly passed a non-binding resolution that tarred their grandfathers with the same crime as Nazi Germany. President Barack Obama had made a last ditch attempt to get the House panel to drop a resolution that would anger a valuable NATO ally, whose support was important for U.S. interests in Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Some European leaders have discouraged Turkey's bid for EU membership. Analysts said this new slap from the United States ran a risk of further alienating Turkey, at a time when there were concerns that its warmer ties with neighbours Iran and Syria, and Russia too, marked a shift away from the West. A US envoy in Ankara distanced the administration from the panel's vote after being invited for talks by Turkish officials. "We believe that Congress should not make a decision on the issue. We are against new action," US Ambassador James Jeffrey told reporters. It was unclear whether the bill would be considered by the full House or become enshrined in official US policy. Davutoglu said Turkey's efforts to resolve disputes with Christian Armenia, rooted in ethnic and religious enmity, would go on. But, he went on to warn that ratification by parliamentof peace protocols signed last year to open the border was now in greater doubt due to the US lawmakers action. "Yesterday's decision has brought the risk of not delaying but halting the process for the ratification of protocols," Davutoglu said. "This resolution pours petrol on the fire," said Hugh Pope, an analyst for the International Crisis Group. "It hands the discussion back to the nationalists on both sides." For its part Armenia applauded the US vote and indicated desire to move forward in relations with Turkey.
