Agence France Presse
March 12, 2010 Friday 4:15 PM GMT
Turkey warns Sweden of damage to ties over ‘genocode’ vote
Ankara, March 12 2010
Turkey warned Sweden Friday of "serious" damage to ties after the
Swedish parliament recognized the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks as genocide, only days after a similar vote by a US
Congressional panel.
The foreign ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to convey
Ankara’s protests, while the Turkish envoy to Stockholm, recalled
immediately after Thursday’s vote, arrived home for consultations.
"It is up to the government to decide, but I think (the vote) will
have serious consequences" on bilateral relations, Ambassador Zergun
Koruturk told reporters after landing in Istanbul.
She lamented that the vote came at a time when "we had excellent ties
with Sweden and it was at the forefront of countries supporting our
European Union membership process."
Turkey expects Sweden to "take serious steps to compensate" for the
decision, a Turkish diplomat told AFP after the Swedish ambassador was
summoned to the foreign ministry.
The envoy, Christer Asp, said after the meeting that Thursday’s
decision was not binding for the government and vowed to maintain the
"strong, friendly" ties with Turkey.
Going against the government’s advice, the Swedish parliament voted by
a narrow margin to recognize the "genocide of Armenians" during the
breakup of the Ottoman Empire, further infuriating Ankara by
mentioning also other Christian communities as victims of "genocide"
in Ottoman hands.
Ankara quickly recalled its ambassador and cancelled next week’s visit
by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sweden.
The vote came a week after the US House Foreign Affairs Committee
narrowly approved a non-binding resolution branding the massacres of
Armenians a genocide, prompting Ankara to recall its ambassador.
"Those decisions… will have a negative impact on Turkish-Armenian
ties which we have been trying to normalise," Erdogan said in a
televised speech in northwestern Turkey.
Ankara "will not be deterred by and will not bow to those fait
accomplis, to those ill-willed actions and irresponsible attitudes,"
he added.
A government statement late Thursday accused Swedish lawmakers of
backing the move out of "domestic political calculations" ahead of
elections in September.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said it was a "mistake to
politicise history" and vowed that the government’s position remains
unchanged.
Sweden is among the few countries which openly support Turkey’s
troubled EU accession bid.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet Bildt
Friday or Saturday on the sidelines of an informal European gathering
in Finland, a diplomatic source said.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in a
systematic campaign of extermination during World War I as the Ottoman
Empire fell apart.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label, arguing that between
300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks were killed
in civil strife when Armenians rose up for independence and sided with
invading Russian forces.
But much to Ankara’s ire, parliaments in several countries have
recognized the killings as genocide.
Setting up an independent body of historians to study the events is
one of the measures foreseen under a historic deal Turkey and Armenia
signed in October to establish diplomatic relations and open their
border.
But the process has already stalled, with Ankara accusing Yerevan of
trying to change the terms of the deal and Yerevan charging that
Ankara is not committed to ratifying the accord.
burs-han/su/cw