The Swedish Wire
March 14 2010

PM apologizes for ‘genocide’ vote

ANKARA (AFP) – Sweden’s prime minister has called his Turkish
counterpart to distance himself from a parliament move branding the
massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, Ankara said
Sunday.

Sweden’s Frederik Reinfeldt called Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday
evening to voice "his sadness and say that his government absolutely
did not share the decision," Erdogan’s office said in a statement.

Blaming the vote on "domestic politics," Reinfeldt said his government
was "ready to do the necessary so that this unfounded decision does
not harm bilateral relations," according to the text.

The Swedish prime minister also assured Erdogan that the parliament’s
move did not weaken Stockholm’s support of Turkey’s EU accession
ambitions.

Going against the government’s advice, the Swedish parliament voted by
a narrow margin on Thursday to recognise the "genocide of Armenians"
during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.

Ankara quickly recalled its ambassador and cancelled a visit by
Erdogan to Sweden after the vote, which came just days after a similar
move by a US Congressional panel.

In remarks to Sweden’s TT news agency, Reinfeldt said that he had
expressed to his Turkish counterpart "regrets following the
parliament’s decision because it politicises history."

According to the Turkish statement, Erdogan "strongly insisted on the
disappointment" felt in Turkey over the vote, while recognising that
the government was against it.

He also called for "measures to repair the situation."

nent/content/article/2:politics/3308:swedens-pm-ap ologizes-for-genocide-vote

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress