A Turkish minister has cancelled a visit to the United States this weekend in reaction to a Congress vote to label the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks an act of genocide.
Minister of State Kursad Tuzmen, an influential member of the government charged with external trade, was to have attended a US-Turkish business meeting in New York.
Mr Tuzmen was the second Turkish official to cancel a planned visit to the US after the Turkish navy's commander Admiral Metin Atac.
Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Washington after the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed the genocide resolution despite Ankara's warnings that it could seriously damage bilateral ties.
At least 1.5 million Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1917 under an Ottoman Empire campaign of deportation and murder, according to Armenians.
Ankara acknowledges that 250,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in the conflict after Armenians took up arms for independence but staunchly reject the tag of genocide.
Turkey's furious reaction to the Congress vote has fuelled fears within President George W. Bush's administration that it could lose access to a crucial military base in Turkey.
