Annual American-Turkish Conference Cancelled

The annual conference of the American-Turkish Council (ATC) will not take place this year. The reason? The recent adoption of a US congressional resolution (H.Res.252) which recognizes the Armenian Genocide.

According to Turkish daily Milliyet, it’s already been 30 consecutive years that ATC, one of the most important institutions symbolizing American-Turkish relations, has been holding such conferences that are always attended by high-ranking Turkish and American officials, including prime ministers and officials from the defense and foreign ministries.

This year, the ATC had planned to hold the conference from April 11-14 with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expected to attend.

Turkish press considers the cancellation of the conference as a very serious counter-response to the US administration, in retaliation for approving a bill that recognizes the Armenian Genocide.