AMBASSADOR OF SWEDEN IN ANKARA ASP IN MERSIN
Turkish Press
Oct 25 2006
-"BILL ON SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS A DISASTER" -"SWEDEN SUPPORTS
TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP"
MERSIN – "Adoption of the bill that criminalizes any denial of
so-called Armenian genocide in France is a disaster," Swedish
Ambassador in Ankara Christer Asp said on Thursday.
Ambassador Asp paid a visit to the governor of southern city of
Mersin Huseyin Aksoy today. Asp thanked Aksoy for the hospitality
extended to Swedish citizens who recently arrived in Mersin after
fleeing war-torn Lebanon.
"We are thankful for the hospitality you have displayed to our citizens
who arrived in Mersin and later were sent back to Sweden," told Asp.
In response to a question on a French bill that makes any denial
of so-called Armenian genocide a crime, Asp stated that "it (bill)
is a disaster. These kinds of issues also came up in Sweden. The
answer Sweden gave to these issues was clear and firm. Certain
incidents took place 100 years ago. Yet these incidents must be
left to historians. Turkey has made all of its archives available
to researchers. We are happy about this reality. There were Swedish
scientists who studied these archives. This issue has got nothing to
do with Turkey’s EU membership process."
Ambassador Asp remarked that he has been in Turkey for the past
one year. "We try to develop relations not only among our two
governments but also between local administrations and private sector
representatives," underlined Asp.
Asp added that "Sweden strongly supports Turkey’s EU membership."
Meanwhile, Mersin Governor Huseyin Aksoy indicated that relations
between Turkey and Sweden will get better as time passes by. We can
expect commercial relations between the two countries to develop
rapidly, expressed Aksoy.
Aksoy added that "more than 10,000 foreign nationals, including
Swedish citizens, arrived in Mersin after fleeing war-torn Lebanon.
We helped these foreigners during their time of difficulty. It is a
Turkish tradition to welcome and help guests."