Turkey's ambassador to the United States is set to return to his post after being recalled following a US House panel vote branding the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide, a diplomat said Thursday.

"A decision has been made in principle for his return," the Turkish diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. Ankara recalled Ambassador Namik Tan on 4 March immediately after the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution branding the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The envoy is expected to return to Washington before April 12 when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will "very probably" go to the US capital for a nuclear security summit, the diplomat said. Erdogan said later he would announce Friday whether he would attend the summit.

"If I decide to go, I will send the ambassador back immediately," he said. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke of "positive developments" in ties between the two NATO allies, highlighting a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday.

"There have been positive developments in the context of the reasons that required the return of our ambassador since the latest telephone call," Davutoglu told reporters. "There have been increasing messages easing our concerns and meeting our expectations ... and (showing) that the strategic dimension of Turkish-US relations is being understood," he said.

Clinton had stressed that Washington "places importance" on Erdogan's attendance of the nuclear security summit, he added. Davutoglu told Clinton that Washington should stop the bill from advancing to a vote at the full House, a Turkish foreign ministry statement said earlier this week.

Blocking the resolution, he said, will be "of critical importance to eliminate the negative impact it has had" on Turkish-US ties and fledgling peace efforts with Armenia. The non-binding resolution calls on President Barack Obama to ensure that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide" and to label the killings of Armenians as such in his annual statement on the issue.

Clinton has urged the committee not to hold the vote for fear it might harm ties with a prominent Muslim ally and Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. She said after its approval that "we do not believe the full Congress will or should act on that resolution."

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in orchestrated killings and deportations under the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks perished in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with Russian forces invading the crumbling empire.

(Source: AFP)