Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on March 13 jointly denounced the Swedish Parliament’s March 11 passage of a resolution recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s killing of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. At a meeting of European foreign ministers in Finland, Davutoglu questioned the rationale of the move, one that Bildt characterized as the “politicization of history.” Both ministers noted concerns that the resolution would undermine the progress that Armenia and Turkey have made toward stabilizing their relations.
The Swedish Parliament adopted the resolution by a vote of 131-130, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador from Stockholm and cancel official events in Sweden. The Swedish resolution came only a week after the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs voted 23-22 to adopt a resolution labeling the killings as genocide. The US government has indicated that it will seek to block the resolution from being put before the full House of Representatives. A similar resolution was passed by the committee in 2007, but it never reached the House floor.
From Jurist, March 13. Used with permission.
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