TURKEY’S ENVOY RETURNS TO SWEDEN

ArmInfo
2010-03-30 20:35:00

ArmInfo. "Turkey’s senior diplomat returned to Sweden after
consultations in Ankara on the decision of the Swedish parliament to
adopt a resolution on the incidents of 1915", Turkish mass media say.

Zergun Koruturk, Turkey’s ambassadress to Sweden, told reporters
that she was going back to Sweden after she had held consultations
in Ankara. "Calling back an ambassador to his/her country
for consultations is a serious reaction, and even a protest,
in diplomacy," she said. "The Swedish constitution authorizes the
government to deal with foreign policy, and therefore this decision
is only recommendatory," she said. Koruturk said Turkey showed that
reaction and the Swedish government did no way approve the decision of
the parliament. Koruturk said the Swedish government had clearly stated
that it would not implement that decision. Koruturk said then, Turkey
showed a political will that it was time that the senior diplomat
went back to Sweden. "My return to Sweden is a political decision,
just as my return to Turkey," she said.

To recall, on March 11 Swedish Parliament approved the Armenian
Genocide resolution and caused the disruptive reaction of official
Ankara. Turkey immediately recalled its ambassadress from Stockholm.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned this decision and
said that it had been taken for political reasons. He also cancelled
his visit to Stockholm scheduled for March 17. At the same time,
this decision of Swedish Riksdag was criticized by the Swedish foreign
minister and prime minister. The latter called his Turkish counterpart
and pointed out that the Swedish government does not share the opinion
of the Swedish parliament.