SWEDEN’S PARLIAMENT PASSES ARMENIA GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
Global Times
12230.html
March 12 2010
China
Sweden’s Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution recognizing the
killing of Armenians and many other ethnic groups in 1915 as genocide.
The 349-seat parliament passed the resolution with a narrow majority,
with 131 yes, 130 no and 88 abstention, said the Swedish news
agency TT.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt strongly criticized the
parliament’s resolution.
"It is wrong to politicize history in this situation and on the other
hand, it makes it difficult for Sweden to work towards reconciliation,"
Bildt was quoted as saying by TT.
He added that the resolution was a result of power shift within the
red-green opposition.
Turkish government immediately recalled its ambassador to Sweden home
in protest against the Swedish parliament’s resolution, according
to TT.
The Swedish parliament voted twice on the issue in 2000 and 2008,
but failed to approve it.
Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols last October to normalize
relations; however, parliaments of the two countries have not ratified
them yet.
Turkey strongly rejects genocide allegations and regards the events
as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks and
Armenians.
Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in the row over the deaths
of Armenians and have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia
declared its independence in 1991.