TURKEY FURY OVER SWEDEN’S ‘GENOCIDE’ VOTE

The Swedish Wire
ey-fury-over-swedens-genocide-vote
March 12 2010
Sweden

ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey’s foreign ministry Friday summoned the Swedish
ambassador to protest the Swedish parliament’s recognition of the
massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

"We conveyed our unease to the Swedish side," the diplomat told AFP
on condition of anonymity after Ambassador Christer Asp met with the
ministry’s deputy undersecretary.

Asp said in televised remarks after the meeting that his government
believes history should be left to historians and vowed to maintain
"strong, friendly" ties with Turkey.

On Thursday, the Swedish parliament voted, against the government’s
advice, to recognise the "genocide of Armenians" and other ethnic
groups during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, in a move that
sparked Turkish ire.

Ankara quickly denounced the vote, recalled its ambassador to Stockholm
and cancelled next week’s visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
to Sweden for a summit between the two countries.

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

In comments published in newspapers Friday, the Turkish ambassador to
Stockholm, Zergun Koruturk, lamented that the vote had delievered a
major blow to "excellent ties" which she said were advancing towards
a strategic partnership.

"It will not be easy to repair the damage," said Korutusk, who was
expected to return to Turkey Friday.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt announced after the vote that 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.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet Bildt
Friday or Saturday on the sidelines of an informal European gathering
in Finland, a diplomatic source said.

The Swedish vote came a week after a key US Congressional 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.