Turkey's military chief is warning the United States that the alliance between the two nations will be at risk if the U.S. Congress passes a resolution labeling the 1915 killings of Armenians a genocide.
Turkey's Milliyet newspaper Sunday quotes General Yasar Buyukanit as saying military ties will never again be the same if the House of Representatives approves the non-binding measure.
President Bush opposes the resolution. And U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warns that Turkey could respond by limiting U.S. access to routes used to transport supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq.
But, in an interview on the U.S. television network ABC House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged to go forward with the resolution.
In a separate development, witnesses said the Turkish military fired several shells into a northern Iraqi village, near the Turkish border in Dahuk province late Saturday, but no causalities were reported.
Turkey's government is seeking parliamentary approval this week for a military operation against rebels in northern Iraq.
Ankara blames rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (or PKK) based in Iraq for deadly attacks in southeastern Turkey.
Two U.S. envoys, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman met with Turkish officials Saturday in a diplomatic effort to prevent a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
