Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 14 2008
Swedish Parliament refuses genocide claims, Turkey satisfied
Turkish Ambassador to Sweden Necip Egüz has expressed satisfaction
over the Swedish Parliament’s rejection of a motion for official
recognition of the killings of Anatolian Armenians during the early
20th century as genocide.
Earlier this week, a long debate took place in the Swedish Parliament
regarding a Foreign Committee report on human rights, including five
motions calling upon the Swedish government and parliament to
officially recognize the so-called Armenian genocide, Armenian media
reported, noting that eventually the Swedish Parliament, with a vote
of 245 to 37 (1 abstaining, 66 absent), rejected a call for
recognition of the 1915 killings during World War I as genocide on
Thursday. "The Swedish government supports the establishment of a
joint history commission between Turkey and Armenia. It acknowledges
that this duty belongs to the historians. This is an appropriate
decision," Egüz said yesterday in a written statement, the Anatolia
news agency reported.
In its answer, a majority consisting of the ruling alliance parties
together with the opposition Social Democrats proposed rejecting the
motions, whereby the Green and the Left parties announced their
reservations, forcing the parliament to have a debate in the main
chamber before the proposal was voted on, online news portal
Pan-ARMENIAN.Net reported.