The U.S. continues to press both Armenia and Turkey to move forward and ratify the protocols, Philip Crowley, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, told a news briefing on March 29.

Responding to a question concerning the situation regarding the Armenian genocide, he said that t is up to Turkey to decide on re-sending its Ambassador to Washington.

“Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Davutoglu – they converse on a regular basis. When you look at the issues that Turkey is engaged in, they’ve had their own dialogue with Iran, their own dialogue with Syria. They’ve had in the not-too-distant past constructive relations with Israel. So they are playing an increasingly important role in the region. And they are clearly linked to something we have spent a lot of time and attention focused on, which is improving relations between Turkey and Armenia. Many of you were with the Secretary when we had the agreement on normalization. We continue to press both Armenia and Turkey to move forward and ratify those protocols,” Crowley said.

“And likewise, we are, along with our fellow members in the Minsk process, involved in how to sort through the difficult and complex issue regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. So this is just part of the ongoing strategic nature of our relationship,” he said.

T.P.