(Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is expected to press U.S. President George W. Bush to follow through on promises to help eradicate Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq at talks on Monday.
Following are some facts about recent U.S.-Turkish relations.
* On October 10, the House Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution branding the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide, brushing aside Bush’s warnings that it would harm relations with Turkey.
* The panel’s vote enraged Turkey, which recalled its ambassador for consultations. Since that vote, U.S. support for the Armenian genocide resolution has faltered, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was uncertain whether it would come to the floor for a vote by the full House.
* The Foreign Relations Committee agreed on October 23 to give Turkey several decommissioned U.S. military ships, but the legislator who sponsored the plan denied it was intended to temper Ankara’s anger over U.S. legislation on Armenian genocide.
* In September 2003, the Bush administration informed Congress that it was ready to provide Turkey with up to $8.5 billion in loans. Bush offered the money to Ankara, despite its refusal to allow U.S. troops to use Turkish soil during the war in Iraq.
* U.S.-Turkish relations suffered a setback in July 2003 after American troops arrested Turkish commandos in northern Iraq suspected of plotting an attack on a local Kurdish official - an accusation Ankara denied. The men were released two days later.
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