SWEDEN CALLS MASS KILLING OF ARMENIANS GENOCIDE

The Swedish Wire
March 11 2010

The Swedish parliament labels, against the advice of the government,
the massacres of Armenians during World War I as genocide – immediately
sparking a diplomatic row.

The Swedish parliament on Thursday recognised the massacres of
Armenians during World War I as genocide, immediately sparking a
diplomatic row with Turkey.

Its resolution, which the government had opposed, "signifies that
Sweden recognises the 1915 genocide of Armenians" and other ethnic
groups during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey quickly denounced the vote, cancelled a visit to Stockholm
by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan scheduled for next week,
and recalled its ambassador from Stockholm for consultations.

"We strongly condemn this decision. Our people and our government
reject this decision based upon major errors and without foundation,"
said a statement from Erdogan’s office.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed during World
War I by their Ottoman rulers in a planned campaign of extermination
as the empire was falling apart, a stance that is supported by several
other countries.

Turkey rejects the genocide label. It argues that between 300,000
and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks were killed in civil
strife when Armenians rose up for independence and sided with invading
Russian forces.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt immediately announced that the
position of his government, which supports Turkey’s entry into the
European Union, "remains unchanged".

"We think it is a mistake to politicise history," Bildt wrote on
his blog from Copenhagen, where he was attending a meeting of Nordic
foreign ministers.

"Unfortunately the decision of the parliament will not facilitate the
process of normalisation between Turkey and Armenia, nor the work of
a commission which should investigate the events of 1915," he added.

The adoption of the resolution came as a surprise after four members
of the conservative majority rebelled to support the opposition
resolution, which passed by one vote.

A US Congress panel branded the World War I massacre of Armenians as
genocide earlier this month, sparking a diplomatic row with Turkey,
which recalled its ambassador from Washington.

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