SWEDEN LABELS MASS KILLING OF ARMENIANS GENOCIDE

AP
March 11, 2010

Sweden Labels Mass World War I Killing Of Armenians Genocide With
1-vote Margin Mar. 11, 2010

(AP) STOCKHOLM (AP) – Sweden’s parliament narrowly approved a
resolution Thursday recognizing the 1915 mass killing of Armenians
in Turkey as genocide.

Swedish news agency TT said Turkey recalled its ambassador from Sweden
to protest the surprise decision, which was taken in a 131-130 vote
in the 349-seat assembly. Eighty-eight lawmakers were absent during
the vote.

"After 95 years it is time for people who have suffered so long to
obtain redress," said Gulan Avci, a Liberal Party lawmaker who broke
with her party’s line and voted to recognize the Armenian genocide.

Avci is a Kurdish immigrant from Turkey.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies that the
deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and
those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

The governing center-right coalition opposed the measure but it
passed because a handful of center-right lawmakers sided with the
left-leaning opposition, which had proposed the resolution.

In the U.S., a congressional committee approved a similar resolution
last week in a 23-22 vote that would send the measure to the full
House of Representatives, if the leadership decided to bring it up.

Minutes after the vote, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to the U.S.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he regretted the Parliament’s
decision, saying it "will unfortunately not have a positive effect
on the ongoing normalization process between Turkey and Armenia."

Turkish Ambassador to Sweden Zergun Koroturk told TT she had received
instructions to go back to Turkey immediately after the vote.

"It’s logical," she was quoted as saying.