REINFELDT DENOUNCES GENOCIDE VOTE

The Local
March 16 2010
Sweden

Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called his Turkish
counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Saturday in a bid to distance
the Swedish government from a parliamentary vote which recognized
the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Reinfeldt called Erdogan, who had previously cancelled a planned
state visit to Sweden after the vote, to voice "his sadness and say
that his government absolutely did not share the decision," Ankara
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"
and other ethnic groups, 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 politicizes history."

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

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

The Local/AFP