TURKEY AND SWEDEN IN GENOCIDE ROW
BBC NEWS
urope/8563483.stm
2010/03/11 22:26:20 GMT
Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Sweden after the parliament
voted narrowly to describe as genocide the killing of Armenians in
World War I.
The Turkish government condemned the resolution, saying it was "based
upon major errors and without foundation".
The Swedish government opposed the opposition resolution but it passed
by one vote after some MPs voted against party lines.
It comes days after a US congressional panel passed a similar
resolution.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a visit to
Stockholm scheduled next week and issued a statement criticising
the vote.
"Our people and our government reject this decision based upon major
errors and without foundation," said the statement.
MASS KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS
Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks
in 1915-6 Many historians and the Armenian people believe the
killings amount to genocide Turks and some historians deny they were
orchestrated More than 20 countries regard the massacres as genocide
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the vote was a "mistake"
but that it did not change the position of his government, which
supports Turkey’s entry into the EU.
The Swedish vote comes less than a week after the US House of
Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar resolution
– by 23 votes to 22 – despite strong Turkish lobbying not to.
That vote also sparked anger from Turkey and the recall of its
ambassador to Washington.
Historic argument
Moves between Turkey and Armenia to normalise relations have faltered
recently.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were
deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They
were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed, but Turkey says
the figure is no more than one-third that and that many Turks died
as well.
Turkey accepts that atrocities were committed but argues they were
part of the war and that there was no systematic attempt to destroy
the Christian Armenian people.
Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide,
but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.
Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised
internationally as genocide – and more than 20 countries have done so.