ArabMonitor.Info
March 13 2010

Swedish and Turkish Foreign Ministers united

Helsinki, 13 March ` During an informal meeting of a group of Foreign
Ministers in Saariselka, a town in the north of Finland, the Swedish
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu condemned the vote in the Swedish Parliament defining the
killing of Armenians during First World War as a genocide. Bildt
declared he was no less concerned than the Turkish public over what he
defined as the politication of history.

The Swedish Foreign Minister said: "It’s regrettable because I think
the politicisation of history serves no useful purpose". Commentators
believe the vote was possibly inspired by the decision taken some days
earlier by a committee of the US House of Representatives to put the
Armenian-genocide issue before the legislative bodies in the US for a
binding vote.

In both cases Turkey reacted recalling its ambassadors from Washington
and Stockholm. Davutoglu said it was pointless for countries to think
they could put pressure on Turkey. Moreover, he said, it was wrong for
Parliaments to assume the attitude of wanting to define history via a
majority vote.