, Turkey
March 13 2010
Turkey: Swedish politicization of history "big mistake"
Turkey’s foreign minister said, "it is impossible to accept approval
of the resolution on Armenian allegations by the Swedish parliament."
Saturday, 13 March 2010 10:04
Turkey’s foreign minister said, "it is impossible to accept approval
of the resolution on Armenian allegations by the Swedish parliament."
Ahmet Davutoglu, who is currently in Lapland city of Finland to attend
the informal meeting of foreign ministers, met with his Swedish
counterpart Carl Bildt.
Davutoglu told reporters following the meeting, "we regret that
Swedish parliament decided to approve the resolution. First of all, we
think that parliaments should not evaluate such historical events
since most of parliamentarians do not have adequate information about
those events. Politicization of the history leads to serious problems
for our societies. We consider this decision of the Swedish parliament
as a big mistake. It is impossible to accept it."
Swedish Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution on Armenian
allegations regarding 1915 incidents.
The resolution was approved with 131 votes against 130.
"Secondly, there were perfect relations between Turkey and Sweden.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to pay a visit to
Sweden next week to further improve our bilateral relations which we
described as a kind of strategic partnership. Under the light of
recent developments, we had to cancel Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit.
Also, we recalled our ambassador in Stockholm for consultations. We
did not expect such a decision from the parliament of a friendly
country," he said.
Davutoglu said, "I conveyed our views to Bildt. We hope that such
decisions which provoke developments in the region would not be made
in the future. Turkey will not allow anyone else to evaluate its
history. Others may consider the year of 1915 as part of an Armenian
issue, but for us, 1915 was the year when a nation defended its
country against big armies."
Carl Bildt, on his part, said that it was not rightful to politicize
historical issues with decisions made by parliaments. He said that
such decisions seriously damage rapprochement processes, and expressed
his sorrow.
Bildt said that Sweden, despite the decision of the parliament, would
continue extending full support to Turkey’s EU membership process.
We consider Turkey as an important part of the future Europe, he said.
Bildt added they tried hard to persuade parliamentarians that such a
decision would be a serious mistake.
Davutoglu said, "I warned Bildt that this is an attempt to provoke
Turkey-Sweden relations. He admitted it. He told me that they, as the
government, did everything in their power, but could not prevent it.
He also told me that they would take all kinds of steps to improve
relations with Turkey, and added that they understood Turkey’s
reaction."
Turkey strongly rejects the genocide allegations and regards the
events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks
and Armenians.
Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols on October 10, 2009 to
normalize relations between the two countries. The protocols envisage
the two countries to establish diplomatic ties and open the border
that has been close since 1993.
Turkey and Armenia also agreed to take steps to operate a
sub-commission on impartial scientific examination of the historical
records and archive to define existing problems and formulate
recommendations, in which Armenian, Turkish as well as Swiss and other
international experts would take part. However, on January 12, 2010,
the Constitutional Court of Armenia declared a decision of
constitutional conformity on the protocols. Turkey thought the fifth
article of Armenian Constitutional Court’s verdict regarding the
protocols was against the target and basis of the protocols.
AA