Turkish PM says US Congress vote on “Armenian genocide” was comedy

"The scenario that was played out turned out to be a comedy. The country will not put up with the lie that is being forced upon it," he said.

Erdogan said Turkey could not accept "such parody" and described the initiators of the vote as shortsighted.

The adoption of the resolution forced Ankara to recall its ambassador to Washington for consultations. He said upon arrival in Ankara that the vote had been wrong from the very beginning.

The diplomat did not say when he planned to return to the United States, adding that this would depend on his consultations and the decisions to be made by the government.

The issue of Armenian genocide has tarnished relations between Turkey and Armenia for decades and is one of the stumbling blocks to their improvement. Another problem is Nagorno-Karabakh.

Erdogan said the Turkish-Armenian border would not be opened unless the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was resolved.

"Turkey will not sign the final agreement with Armenia unless Azerbaijan and Armenia reach consensus on Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

Erdogan said his country had not and would not take steps that would be detrimental to the national interests of Azerbaijan; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.