Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Friday adopting a resolution which recognizes the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire was "the wrong way to go."
Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Sweden for consultations after the Swedish parliament approved the resolution in a tight vote of 131 "yes" and 130 "no" votes, with 88 abstentions. A scheduled visit of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Scandinavian country was also cancelled.
"I'm worried not only about the impact this could have for reconciliation - in this case between Turkey and Armenia - but also about the increasing tensions it can generate in our own society," Bildt said, apparently referring to Sweden's Turkish diaspora, which is estimated at approximately 70,000 people.
He also said the move might harm Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process, which has been underway since October 2009.
An agreement to restore frozen diplomatic relations and reopen borders, signed by the two countries' foreign ministers during a meeting in Switzerland, is still to be ratified by the two countries' parliaments.
The Swedish Parliament's vote triggered an angry response from Turkish officials.
"We strongly condemn the Swedish parliament's move. Our people and government reject this groundless decision," the Turkish government said on its website on Tuesday.
Turkey's ambassador to Stockholm, Zergun Koruturk, told the SVT - Aktuellt news program that the move will "entail hard consequences for relations between Sweden and Turkey."
Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic relations since the latter became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in a show of support for Azerbaijan following a bloody conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, in which some 35,000 died on both sides. The largely ethnic Armenian region in Azerbaijani territory has remained in Armenian control.
The genocide issue has been a major obstacle to reviving ties between the two nations. Many political forces in Armenia have denounced the expected reconciliation with Turkey, which rejects the genocide label, as treason.
Ankara last week recalled its ambassador to the United States for consultations after the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in support of a resolution condemning as genocide the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Turks during World War I.
After the Turkish genocide in Armenia was first recognized by Uruguay in 1965, many countries followed suit, including Russia, France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina. It was also recognized by the Vatican, the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.
ANKARA / STOCKHOLM, March 12 (RIA Novosti)
