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BBC: Turkey And Sweden In Genocide Row

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  • BBC: Turkey And Sweden In Genocide Row

    TURKEY AND SWEDEN IN GENOCIDE ROW

    BBC NEWS
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/e urope/8563483.stm
    2010/03/11 22:26:20 GMT

    Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Sweden after the parliament
    voted narrowly to describe as genocide the killing of Armenians in
    World War I.

    The Turkish government condemned the resolution, saying it was "based
    upon major errors and without foundation".

    The Swedish government opposed the opposition resolution but it passed
    by one vote after some MPs voted against party lines.

    It comes days after a US congressional panel passed a similar
    resolution.

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a visit to
    Stockholm scheduled next week and issued a statement criticising
    the vote.

    "Our people and our government reject this decision based upon major
    errors and without foundation," said the statement.

    MASS KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS

    Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks
    in 1915-6 Many historians and the Armenian people believe the
    killings amount to genocide Turks and some historians deny they were
    orchestrated More than 20 countries regard the massacres as genocide

    Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the vote was a "mistake"
    but that it did not change the position of his government, which
    supports Turkey's entry into the EU.

    The Swedish vote comes less than a week after the US House of
    Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar resolution
    - by 23 votes to 22 - despite strong Turkish lobbying not to.

    That vote also sparked anger from Turkey and the recall of its
    ambassador to Washington.

    Historic argument

    Moves between Turkey and Armenia to normalise relations have faltered
    recently.

    Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were
    deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They
    were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.

    Armenia says up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed, but Turkey says
    the figure is no more than one-third that and that many Turks died
    as well.

    Turkey accepts that atrocities were committed but argues they were
    part of the war and that there was no systematic attempt to destroy
    the Christian Armenian people.

    Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide,
    but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.

    Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised
    internationally as genocide - and more than 20 countries have done so.
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