news.am, Armenia
March 13 2010

Genocide recognition by Swedish Parliament to affect Armenia-Turkey
reconciliation negatively: Erdogan

16:58 / 03/13/2010The adoption of Armenian Genocide Resolution by
Swedish Parliament will have a negative impact on Turkey-Armenia
reconciliation.

Turkey recalled its Ambassador to Sweden after the motion passing by
Riksdag, Reuters reports. The vote came a week after the U.S. House
Committee on Foreign Affairs approved the resolution branding the
massacres of Armenians as genocide, resulting in Ankara recalling its
ambassador.

`It will damage Armenia-Turkey ties,’ Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan stated at the opening of a factory in Istanbul.

Despite Turkey makes statements on the negative impact of the
resolution on Armenia-Turkey reconciliation, the steps toward the
normalization slowed down for several months. `The issues of Armenian
massacres are so sensitive that Turks are ready to compromise their
relations with their major allies,’ Reuters informs recalling that the
legislatives branches of France, Russia, Greece, Germany, Belgium and
Canada adopted the resolution.

Turks are enraged by the motion adoption in Swedish Parliament, as
Sweden is among the few countries that openly support Turkey’s
troubled EU accession bid, unlike France and Germany.

L.A.