Turkey: No ambassador returns to U.S.

Turkey's Prime Minister says the country will not send back its ambassador to the US until its resolution branding the 1915-era killings of Armenians by Turkish forces as "genocide" remains open.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the future attitude of the US is very important. Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US, Namik Tan, minutes after a US congressional panel approved a resolution concerning Turkey last Thursday.

The resolution calls the incidents of 1915 "genocide". Turkey strongly rejects such allegations and regards the event as wartime civil strife which claimed the lives of both Turks and Armenians.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols last October to normalize relations. However, neither country's parliament has passed them.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on March 2.(AFP/File/Adem Altan)