TURKEY RECALLS ENVOY TO SWEDEN OVER ARMENIA VOTE
Ibon Villelabeitia

Reuters
March 11 2010

Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:26pm ESTANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey recalled its
ambassador to Sweden on Thursday and canceled an upcoming summit
between the countries after the Swedish parliament branded the World
War One killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces genocide.

The move comes only a week after Ankara called home its ambassador
to the United States because a U.S. congressional committee approved
a similar resolution.

European Union member Sweden has been one of the strongest supporters
of Ankara’s bid to join the bloc, while the United States is generally
considered a strong western ally of the NATO-member Turkey.

The issue of the Armenian massacres is deeply sensitive in Turkey,
which accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks but vehemently denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it
amounted to genocide — a term employed by many Western historians
and some foreign parliaments.

"We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political
calculations," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in a
statement, referring to the Swedish parliament vote.

"It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We
are recalling our ambassador for consultations," Erdogan said, adding
that he was cancelling a Turkey-Sweden summit scheduled for March 17.

The Swedish resolution passed by an extremely narrow margin, with 131
parliamentarians voting in favor and 130 against. Another 88 members
of parliament were absent.

The measure was opposed by Sweden’s center-right coalition government,
but three of their parliamentarians voted in favor of the motion,
helping the opposition get it through.

"DRASTIC EFFECTS"

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a blog post that the
vote could complicate efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize
relations after a century of hostility.

The countries agreed last year to establish diplomatic ties and open
their border if their parliaments approved peace accords, but the
votes have not taken place and the governments have accused each
other of trying to rewrite the texts.

"The decision also doesn’t help the debate in Turkey, which has become
all the more open and tolerant as it moves closer to the European
Union and resulting democratic reform," Bildt said.

Zergun Koruturk, Turkey’s ambassador to Sweden, told Swedish television
programme Aktuellt that the vote would have "drastic effects" on
bilateral relations which were unlikely to be overcome in a short time.

"I am very disappointed," Koruturk said. "Unfortunately,
parliamentarians were thinking that they were rather historians than
parliamentarians, and it’s very, very unfortunate."

A Turkish government source, however, told Reuters that Koruturk
would probably return to Sweden soon.

"We know the Swedish government has been very active in trying to
stop this resolution," the source said.

Turkey has signaled that its ambassador to the United States will not
return until the fate of the non-binding congressional resolution,
which also passed by a razor-thin margin, is clear.

The administration of President Barack Obama has vowed to stop the
resolution from going further in Congress in a bid to limit the
diplomatic fallout. Turkey is crucial to U.S. interests in Iraq,
Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East.