Turkey recalls Canada ambassador over genocide

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada for consultation, said a Foreign Ministry source on Wednesday, after Canada's prime minister spoke at a vigil to commemorate the 1915 killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Premier Stephen Harper gave support on Tuesday to claims that the 1915 killings by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide, the source said, a term fiercely rejected by Ankara, which says many were killed on both sides.

"The ambassador has been called back is currently going through consultations over what to do. We don't know how long he will be here," the source said.

"He was called back due to the position of Prime Minister Harper who spoke at a commemorative vigil and whose speech recognized (the events of 1915) as genocide," said the Foreign Ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He was called back due to the position of Prime Minister Harper who spoke at a commemorative vigil and whose speech recognized (the events of 1915) as genocide

Foreign Ministry source

Reconciliation talks

Ankara dismisses claims, supported by some countries and academics, that Ottoman Turkish forces killed 1.5 million Armenians in a genocide, commemorated in Armenia on April 24.

Reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia gathered steam in September when President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan, the first by a Turkish leader, to watch a football match.

The genocide dispute is on the agenda of the talks, along with other issues such as re-opening the border between the two neighbors and establishing diplomatic relations.

Ankara argues that third countries will only harm the reconciliation efforts by taking a side on the genocide dispute.

The incident is the latest diplomatic spat between Ankara and Ottawa over the issue since the early 2000s when the Canadian Senate and House of Commons recognized the Armenian killings as genocide.

Much to Turkey's ire, a number of countries have endorsed Armenian claims that up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in what was a genocide from 1915 to 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and says 300,000-500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian troops.