Istanbul: Turkey on Wednesday summoned the US ambassador to Ankara over a resolution passed by the US House of Representatives officially recognising the "Armenian genocide", officials at the Turkish foreign ministry said.
The US Ambassador to Ankara David Satterfield was summoned to the foreign ministry over "a resolution that lacks any historical or legal basis" and a bill that imposes sanctions over Turkey's military operation in Syria, the officials said.
The US chamber on Tuesday voted 405 to 11 in support of the measure "affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide", a first for the US Congress, where similar measures with such direct language have been introduced for decades but never passed.
Alongside this, US lawmakers passed a bill that imposes sanctions over Ankara's assault on Kurdish militia forces in northern Syria -- an offensive that was made possible by the pullout of American troops.
Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of World War I. It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.
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