Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday relations between Turkey and the United States are in danger over a resolution branding as genocide massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One.
Referring to ties with the United States and the Armenian bill, Erdogan, with a Turkish idiom used to describe relations, said: "Where the rope is worn thin, may it break off." The crowd of supporters broke into applause.
Ankara is a crucial ally in the region for Washington, which relies on Turkey as a logistical base for the war in Iraq. But US popularity has hit rock bottom in Turkey because of the war and perceptions that the United States is failing to stop Turkish Kurdish rebels using north Iraq as a base from which to attack Turkey.
"This is as much about domestic politics in Turkey as it is in the United States," Turkish commentator Semih Idiz said. "There is a lot of brinkmanship. There is pressure on House speaker Nancy Pelosi to fight the Bush administration."
Before the approval of the resolution by the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, relations had already been undermined by Ankara's plans for a possible incursion into northern Iraq to tackle the rebels. Some analysts say the Armenian bill would make the incursion more likely, as Ankara will feel less restrained by Washington's calls for caution.
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