PARLIAMENT’S DECISION WAS "THE WRONG WAY TO GO", SWEDISH FM

news.az
March 12 2010
Azerbaijan

Carl Bildt Swedish Foreign Minister condemn adopting a resolution
which recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Friday adopting a
resolution which recognizes the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman
Empire was "the wrong way to go."

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Sweden for consultations after
the Swedish parliament approved the resolution in a tight vote of 131
"yes" and 130 "no" votes, with 88 abstentions. A scheduled visit of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Scandinavian country was
also cancelled.

"I’m worried not only about the impact this could have for
reconciliation – in this case between Turkey and Armenia – but also
about the increasing tensions it can generate in our own society,"
Bildt said, apparently referring to Sweden’s Turkish diaspora, which
is estimated at approximately 70,000 people.

He also said the move might harm Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
process, which has been underway since October 2009.

An agreement to restore frozen diplomatic relations and reopen borders,
signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers during a meeting in
Switzerland, is still to be ratified by the two countries’ parliaments.

The Swedish Parliament’s vote triggered an angry response from
Turkish officials.

"We strongly condemn the Swedish parliament’s move. Our people and
government reject this groundless decision," the Turkish government
said on its website on Tuesday.

Turkey’s ambassador to Stockholm, Zergun Koruturk, told the SVT –
Aktuellt news program that the move will "entail hard consequences
for relations between Sweden and Turkey."