TURKEY RECALLS ENVOY TO SWEDEN

Al-Jazeera
ws/europe/2010/03/201031293651841680.html
March 12 2010
Qatar

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Sweden after its parliament
narrowly voted to describe the killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces
during World War One as genocide.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister "strongly" condemned
Thursday’s vote, which comes only a week after Ankara recalled its
envoy to the US over a similar resolution.

"Our people and our government reject this decision based upon major
errors and without foundation,"Erdogan said, adding that he was
cancelling a Turkey-Sweden summit scheduled next week.

Turkey, which accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed
by Ottoman Turks, rejects that up to 1.5 million died and that it
amounted to genocide – a term employed by many Western historians.

The Swedish resolution passed by an extremely narrow margin, with
131 parliamentarians voting in favour and 130 against, and 88 members
staying away.

‘Major blow’

The measure was opposed by Sweden’s centre-right coalition government,
but three of their parliamentarians voted in favour of the motion,
helping the opposition to get it through.

Zergun Koruturk, Turkey’s ambassador to Stockholm, said the vote
had delivered a major blow to "excellent ties", which she said were
advancing towards a strategic partnership.

"It will not be easy to repair the damage," she said before returning
to Turkey on Friday.

Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, said it was a "mistake to
politicise history" and vowed that the government’s position remains
unchanged.

Sweden is among the few countries which openly support Turkey’s
troubled bid to join the European Union.

The Scandinavian nation’s vote came a week after a key US Congressional
panel approved a similar resolution, prompting Ankara to recall
its ambassador.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in
a systematic campaign of extermination during World War I as the
Ottoman Empire, Turkey’s predecessor, fell apart.

Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label and says the number
of those killed in what was civil strife during wartime is grossly
inflated.