Azernews.Az

The United States believes the parliaments of Turkey and Armenia will ratify the 2009 accords on normalizing their strained relations, the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was quoted by the CNN Turk TV channel as saying.
Commenting on Ankara’s recalling its ambassador from Washington after a resolution on the alleged 1915 genocide of Armenians was approved in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, he said: "We deem Turkey as a valuable ally. Let me remind that US President Barack Obama paid one of his first foreign visits to Turkey as an indication of how important US-Turkish relations are."
Gibbs added that President Obama had sought to advance efforts aimed at normalizing Ankara-Yerevan ties during the visit.
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds for decades and maintain no diplomatic ties. Ankara and Yerevan signed two protocols on normalizing their relations in Switzerland in October 2009 in a bid to end decades of hostility. The United States, Russia and France facilitated the signing of the Turkish-Armenian protocols. However, the documents require ratification in both countries’ parliaments. Turkish officials have assured Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, that the protocols will not pass in the country’s parliament until progress is made in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.*