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STOCKHOLM: Sweden To Recognize Armenian Genocide

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  • STOCKHOLM: Sweden To Recognize Armenian Genocide

    SWEDEN TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    The Local
    March 11 2010
    Sweden

    The Swedish parliament voted on Thursday in favour of a motion to
    recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide.

    Though the motion to recognize the genocide of Armenians and
    other ethnic groups - Chaldeans, Syrians, Assyrians and Pontian
    Greeks - had the backing of members of five of the seven Swedish
    parliamentary parties, the vote's outcome was uncertain to the last
    as the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs had recommended
    its rejection.

    But with four centre-right politicians ignoring the recommendation and
    choosing to vote with the opposition, the resolution was eventually
    passed by a single vote.

    Turkey immediately elected to recall its ambassador to Sweden, Zergun
    Koruturk, who said she was "very, very disappointed" by the vote.

    "I'm disappointed and somewhat surprised because I expected the
    parliament to adopt the normal position that it is not the job of
    parliamentarians to decide whether or not a genocide has taken place.

    "That is a questions for historians, and for researchers to examine
    before reaching a conclusion," she told news agency TT.

    Zergun Koruturk added that Sweden and Turkey had enjoyed excellent
    relations over the last decade but that this was now certain to change.

    "Everything is going to regress. This is going to have a drastic
    impact on our bilateral relations," she said.

    Speaking to The Local prior to the vote, Left Party foreign policy
    spokesperson Hans Linde expressed his view that the time had come
    for Sweden to take a stand on the issue.

    "Firstly, to hinder any repeat and to learn from history. Secondly,
    to encourage the development of democracy in Turkey - which includes
    dealing with their own history. Thirdly, to redress the wrongs
    committed against the victims and their descendants," Linde said.

    The foreign affairs committee, in its comments on the motion, had
    argued for an open debate on the issue. It also stated that the
    persecution of the Armenians and other ethnic groups in 1915 would
    have constituted genocide according to the definition adopted by the
    United Nations in its 1948 genocide convention if it "had it been in
    force at the time."

    But the committee stated that it does not consider it parliament's
    role to rule on human rights issues and that this should instead be
    addressed by "open research, open access to facts, and free debate."

    Sweden's Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt agreed with the
    committee's position in comments on his blog on Thursday. Under the
    heading "Don't politicize history," Bildt wrote:

    "A politicizing of history in this way risks undermining ongoing
    reconciliation processes, plays into the hands of those opposing
    normality in Armenia and reform in Turkey... and creating new tension
    in Swedish society."

    The committee concluded in its comments that the Turkish government
    has in recent years made some movement on the issue, with conferences
    arranged on the subject as well as broader media debate.

    The Swedish parliament has voted on the issue before, even approving
    a report in 2000 recognizing the disappearance of as many as 2.5
    million Armenians, Chaldeans, Syrians, Assyrians and Pontian Greeks
    from April 1915 as genocide. But the recognition was later withdrawn
    "on a technicality", Hans Linde told The Local.

    "The parliament also voted against recognition (by 245 to 37) in 2008.

    The difference this time is that the Social Democrats have changed
    their position," he said.

    Carl Bildt claimed in his statement that the Social Democrat
    parliamentary group was forced to change standpoint on the issue as
    a result of a party congress vote, arguing that there are "several
    that feel deep unease over this."

    According to Sweden's Living History Forum, most researchers are
    now in agreement that the massacres constituted genocide according
    to the accepted 1948 UN definition. The exception to this is Turkish
    researchers. The Turkish government has never recognized the events
    as a genocide and it is illegal in Turkey to claim that it occurred.

    The Living History Forum is a Swedish public authority which works
    with issues on tolerance, democracy and human rights from both a
    national and international perspective.

    The Local has made attempts to contact the foreign policy spokespersons
    at the Centre and Liberal (Folkpartiet) parties for a comment.

    Peter Vinthagen Simpson

    http://www.thelocal.se/25468/20100311/

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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