EurActiv –
March 12 2010
Armenian genocide vote in Sweden sparks Turkish fury
Published: 12 March 2010
A diplomatic row has erupted after Sweden’s parliament voted yesterday
(11 March) to officially declare the Turkish mass killing of Armenians
in World War I as "genocide".
The vote, passed narrowly by just one vote in the Swedish Riksdag, led
to immediate and furious reaction in Ankara, with Turkey recalling its
ambassador to Stockholm and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan cancelling a planned visit to Sweden.
The condemnation of the 1915 events was mainly driven by Sweden’s
centre-left opposition, which Erdogan accused of exploiting the issue
in order to make political gains ahead of Sweden’s general elections
in September.
However, centre-left parties were not alone in passing the resolution.
They were joined by four MPs from the governing centre-right coalition
and these votes proved decisive in securing the result. MPs who
supported the vote described it as an important symbolic victory for
Swedes of Armenian descent.
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) welcomed the vote,
praising Sweden as a country which "often strives to reconcile
effectiveness and ethics in its relations with the world".
"We applaud it for its principled and constructive stance on the
genocide. The truth will set us all free," said Nicolas Tavitian of
AGBU Europe.
Big mistake, says Bildt
But Sweden’s centre-right foreign minister Carl Bildt, one of the EU’s
global diplomacy heavyweights, said he was "heavily disappointed" with
the Riksdag’s decision.
"It is wrong to politicise history this way," he argued, blaming the
outcome on power games among Sweden’s coalition of leftist parties.
Bildt believes the rising influence of the formerly communist Left
party (Vänsterpartiet) was behind the vote.
The move is likely to prove a significant setback to the previously
excellent diplomatic relations between the two countries. Sweden has
been one of the most vocal supporters of Turkish EU membership in
recent years, though Bildt argued that this remained the case despite
yesterday’s vote.
A December 2008 initiative by Turkish intellectuals apologised to
Armenia for the mass killings (EurActiv 18/12/08). Despite the fact
that the petition stopped short of using the word genocide, it was
immediately condemned by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The controversy flared up again last week when the foreign affairs
committee of the US House of Representatives approved a non-binding
measure condemning the killings as genocide.
Positions
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement said
he "deeply regrets" and "strongly condemns" the Swedish Parliament’s
resolution. "Our nation and Government reject this unsubstantiated
resolution replete with immense errors".
"It is obvious that the resolution was adopted with certain political
calculations in view of the upcoming elections to be held in Sweden in
September 2010. This resolution adopted with domestic political
motives does not befit Turkey-Sweden relations and the close
cooperation and friendship between our peoples".
"The task of the Parliaments and politicians is not to pass judgement
on history, but to draw lessons from the past in order to build the
future".
"Those who believe that historical facts and Turkey’s opinion
regarding its own history will be changed by decisions adopted by
foreign Parliaments for political gains are gravely mistaken".
Background
Hundreds of thousands of Christian Armenians died during forced
removals in 1915 by the Ottoman army from what is now Eastern Turkey,
but Turkey denies that the move constituted genocide.
The countries attitude vis-Ã-vis the bloodshed in 1915 is one of the
defining aspects of modern Turkish diplomacy, with any use of the term
`genocide’ either within Turkey or abroad swiftly denounced by Ankara.
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was killed in 2007 after openly
saying that the events of 1915 were genocide.
swedish-condemnation-armenian-genocide-sparks-turk ish-fury-news-333762