REINFELDT WELCOMES TURKISH AMBASSADOR

The Local

April 1 2010
Sweden

Dictionary tool Double click on a word to get a translation

Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt welcomed Turkey’s ambassador
to Sweden, Zergun Koruturk, back to Stockholm on Thursday after her
recall to Ankara following the Swedish parliament’s recognition of
the 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 spokesperson Roberta Alenius told AFP.

Ambassador Zergun Koruturk arrived in the Swedish capital on Tuesday.

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

"The Swedish government has clearly said that the decision would not
be put into practice," Koruturk was quoted by the Anatolia news agency
as saying.

Koruturk was summoned back to Ankara on March 11th 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 expressed regret
over the parliament’s decision 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.