YEREVAN, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in the Armenian capital Monday for a two-day visit aimed at boosting growing economic and political ties between the neighbouring countries.

Ahmadinejad's plane touched down at Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport, the Armenian presidential office told AFP.

YEREVAN, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make an official visit to neighbouring Armenia on October 22 and 23 for talks with his counterpart Robert Kocharian, the official news agency said Saturday.

The two men are expected to sign a series of bilateral agreements Monday, and Ahmadinejad will also meet the head of the national assembly, Tigran Torossian, and students and professors at Yerevan University.

ISTANBUL, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The spiritual leader of Turkey's tiny Armenian community said Friday he was opposed to a US Congressional bill branding the Ottoman massacres of Armenians as genocide.

'This bill will harm relations both between Turkey and Armenia and between Armenians and Turks in Turkey,' the Istanbul-based Patriarch Mesrob II told Anatolia news agency in Erzurum, eastern Turkey.

He said he made contacts with US State Department officials on the issue and could also speak to US Congressmen.

ANKARA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are to meet Sunday to discuss tensions between the two allies, Gonul was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency.

The meeting will take place in the sidelines of an international gathering in Kiev on Sunday.

The talks will cover Turkey's threat to send troops to northern Iraq to strike at Kurdish rebels and a pending US Congressional vote on a resolution labelling the Ottoman massacres of Armenians as genocide, Gonul said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - US Congressional support flagged Wednesday for a resolution calling the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 'genocide' amid concern over Turkey's threat to cut off support for the Iraq war.

In apparent retreat from their initial stance, a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives, including the influential John Murtha, said they would 'very vigorously' oppose the measure cleared last week by a committee.

'If voted today it would not pass on the floor,' Murtha said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Looking to defuse tensions with a key US ally, US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged the Congress to drop a resolution calling the World War I massacre of Armenians in Turkey 'genocide.'

'One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire,' Bush said at a press conference, branding the measure 'counterproductive.'

ROGERS, Arkansas, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - The White House Monday strongly discouraged Congress from approving, or even considering, a resolution calling WWI mass killings of Armenians 'genocide' which could bring tough reprisals from Turkey.

'This is an important time for US-Turkish relations, and we would strongly encourage the speaker not to bring this to a vote, and should it come to a vote, we will strongly encourage members not to support it,' spokesman Tony Fratto said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Top US Democrats Sunday vowed to press ahead with a bill condemning the mass killing of Armenians decades ago as genocide, brushing off Turkish fury over the sensitive issue.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said possible reprisals affecting Turkey's cooperation with the US military were 'hypothetical' and would not derail the resolution.

Holding a vote on condemning the massacre, even many years after the fact, is 'about who we are as a country,' Pelosi told ABC television.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Top US Democrats Sunday brushed off Turkish fury and vowed to press ahead with a bill condemning the mass killing of Armenians decades ago as 'genocide,' to right past wrongs.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said possible reprisals affecting Turkey's cooperation with the US military were 'hypothetical' and would not derail the resolution.

Holding a vote on condemning the massacre, even many years after the fact, is 'about who we are as a country,' Pelosi told ABC television.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Top US Democrats Sunday brushed off Turkish fury and vowed to press ahead with an Armenian 'genocide' bill, insisting that bloodshed today demanded a righting of past wrongs.

But Republicans accused the party in control of Congress of waging an 'irresponsible' campaign of dubious historical validity that would hurt US troops in Iraq.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said possible reprisals affecting Turkey's cooperation with the US military were 'hypothetical' and would not derail the resolution.