SWEDISH PARLIAMENT TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

news.am
March 11 2010
Armenia

On March 11, the Swedish Parliament is to hold a vote on a bill
recognizing the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

DeutscheWelle reported that the Foreign Affairs Committee proposed
rejecting the bill drafted by 15 MPs representing different parties.

The bill condemns both the Armenian Genocide and similar crimes
against other peoples.

Bills recognizing the Armenian Genocide have been proposed before
only to be rejected. This time, the Social Democrats, who used to
vote against the bills, unanimously supported it last November.

Three left parties developed a concept of Sweden’s foreign policy
which is supposed to be an alternative to the official foreign policy.

This new policy provides for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

One hundred and seventy-eight members of the Swedish Parliament
represent the Government, while 171 are left-wingers. The bill will
be rejected if the pro-government MPs vote against it. But three of
the 15 MPs are members of pro-government parties. The bill will be
passed if the three MPs are joined by at least one more member of
pro-government forces.

Turkish organizations in Sweden have gathered 5,000 signatures against
the bill.

A delegation of the Turkish Grand National Assembly visited Sweden
a month ago to warn their Swedish counterparts the approval of the
bill would cause damage to Turkish-Swedish relations.