SWEDISH PM WELCOMES TURKISH AMBASSADOR’S RETURN

Agence France Presse
March 31, 2010 Wednesday 5:14 PM GMT

Sweden’s Prime Minister on Wednesday welcomed the Turkish ambassador’s
return to Stockholm after being recalled to Anakara over the Swedish
parliament’s recognition of an Armenian "genocide."

Fredrik Reinfeldt "welcomes that she is coming back to Sweden. It’s
good that our diplomatic relations are (maintained)," the prime
minister’s spokeswoman Roberta Alenius told AFP.

Ambassador Zergun Koruturk arrived in the Swedish capital Tuesday.

Before her departure, she told reporters in Anakara her return to
Sweden became possible after the Swedish government distanced itself
from the parliament’s decision.

Koruturk was summoned back to Ankara on March 11 after the Swedish
parliament voted by a narrow margin a opposition-led resolution to
recognise the Ottoman massacres of Armenians during World War I as
genocide, despite the government’s advice not to do so.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt later apologised to Ankara,
a move which his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called
"very positive".

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt also said that the position of his
government, which supports Turkey’s entry into the European Union,
"remains unchanged".

"Our foreign minister also met his Turkish counterpart and he met
some Turkish groups living here, so we’ve been involved in this,"
Alenius said.

"We had good relations with Turkey and want this to continue,"
she added.