TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO SWEDEN RECALLED OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE

Sofia Echo
h-ambassador-to-sweden-recalled-over-armenian-geno cide-vote
March 12 2010
Bulgaria

Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Sweden after the Swedish
parliament voted narrowly to describe the killing of Armenians in
World War I as genocide, the BBC said on March 11 2010.

With 131 votes in favour, and 130 against, Swedish MPs adopted a
resolution about Armenians, Assyrians, Syriacs, Chaldeans and Pontic
Greeks suffering "genocide" in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish government condemned the resolution, saying it was "based
upon major errors and without foundation", the BBC said.

The Swedish government was against the opposition’s resolution but
it passed by one vote after some MPs defied 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 for next week and criticised the vote.

"Our people and our government reject this decision based upon major
errors and without foundation," the BBC quoted the statement as saying.

The BBC also quoted Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt as saying
the vote was a "mistake" but that it did not change the position of
his government, which supports Turkey’s entry into the EU.