BILDT OPPOSES POLITICAL DEBATE ON ‘GENOCIDE’

Today’s Zaman
April 21 2010, TUrkey

Sweden’s top foreign policy official has said the position of the
Swedish government on Armenian genocide claims is clear and has
reiterated that historical events should not be evaluated at the
political level.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said a second vote on the
so-called Armenian genocide resolution is possible, in a response
sent to Yilmaz Kerimo, a member of Sweden’s parliament who had asked
whether the Armenian resolution would be brought to the agenda of
Sweden’s parliament again.

Kerimo led the vanguard in advocating the vote on the resolution
recognizing Armenian deaths at the hands of the Ottomans as genocide.

Sweden’s parliament approved the resolution with a one-vote margin
in March, just a week after the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs
approved a similar resolution.

Bildt also said in his response that a second vote in parliament would
not be surprising and added that only parliament has the authority
to decide on this. Making the government’s position clear, Bildt said
in his response that the government had repeatedly shown its position.

"Our position was and will be that the judgment of historical events
should not be realized at political levels," Bildt said. Bildt also
spoke of the possibility of a second vote in late March. The Swedish
government believed the resolution was a mistake and needs to be
rejected in a second vote. The second vote is expected to take place
next year after a proposal for the vote is passed by the Swedish
Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.