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Turkey's Ambassador to Stockholm, Zergun Koruturk
Spectators in Sweden's parliament
Turkey warned Sweden Friday of "serious" damage to ties after the Swedish parliament recognized the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, only days after a similar vote by a US Congressional panel.
The foreign ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to convey Ankara's protests, while the Turkish envoy to Stockholm, recalled immediately after Thursday's vote, arrived home for consultations.
"It is up to the government to decide, but I think (the vote) will have serious consequences" on bilateral relations, Ambassador Zergun Koruturk told reporters after landing in Istanbul.
She lamented that the vote came at a time when "we had excellent ties with Sweden and it was at the forefront of countries supporting our European Union membership process."
Turkey expects Sweden to "take serious steps to compensate" for the decision, a Turkish diplomat told AFP after the Swedish ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry.
The envoy, Christer Asp, said after the meeting that Thursday's decision was not binding for the government and vowed to maintain the "strong, friendly" ties with Turkey.
Going against the government's advice, the Swedish parliament voted by a narrow margin to recognize the "genocide of Armenians" during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, further infuriating Ankara by mentioning also other Christian communities as victims of "genocide" in Ottoman hands.
Ankara quickly recalled its ambassador and cancelled next week's visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sweden.
The vote came a week after the US House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly approved a non-binding resolution branding the massacres of Armenians a genocide, prompting Ankara to recall its ambassador.
"Those decisions... will have a negative impact on Turkish-Armenian ties which we have been trying to normalise," Erdogan said in a televised speech in northwestern Turkey.
Ankara "will not be deterred by and will not bow to those fait accomplis, to those ill-willed actions and irresponsible attitudes," he added.
A government statement late Thursday accused Swedish lawmakers of backing the move out of "domestic political calculations" ahead of elections in September.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said it was a "mistake to politicise history" and vowed that the government's position remains unchanged.
Sweden is among the few countries which openly support Turkey's troubled EU accession bid.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet Bildt Friday or Saturday on the sidelines of an informal European gathering in Finland, a diplomatic source said.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in a systematic campaign of extermination during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label, arguing that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks were killed in civil strife when Armenians rose up for independence and sided with invading Russian forces.
But much to Ankara's ire, parliaments in several countries have recognized the killings as genocide.
Setting up an independent body of historians to study the events is one of the measures foreseen under a historic deal Turkey and Armenia signed in October to establish diplomatic relations and open their border.
But the process has already stalled, with Ankara accusing Yerevan of trying to change the terms of the deal and Yerevan charging that Ankara is not committed to ratifying the accord.
Turkey recalled its ambassador to Sweden on Thursday and canceled an upcoming summit between the countries after the Swedish parliament branded the World War One killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces genocide.
The move comes only a week after Ankara called home its ambassador to the United States because a U.S. congressional committee approved a similar resolution.
European Union member Sweden has been one of the strongest supporters of Ankara's bid to join the bloc, while the United States is generally considered a strong western ally of the NATO-member Turkey.
The issue of the Armenian massacres is deeply sensitive in Turkey, which accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks but vehemently denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide -- a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments.
"We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement, referring to the Swedish parliament vote.
"It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We are recalling our ambassador for consultations," Erdogan said, adding that he was cancelling a Turkey-Sweden summit scheduled for March 17.
The Swedish resolution passed by an extremely narrow margin, with 131 parliamentarians voting in favor and 130 against. Another 88 members of parliament were absent.
The measure was opposed by Sweden's center-right coalition government, but three of their parliamentarians voted in favor of the motion, helping the opposition get it through.
"DRASTIC EFFECTS"
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a blog post that the vote could complicate efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations after a century of hostility.
The countries agreed last year to establish diplomatic ties and open their border if their parliaments approved peace accords, but the votes have not taken place and the governments have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts.
"The decision also doesn't help the debate in Turkey, which has become all the more open and tolerant as it moves closer to the European Union and resulting democratic reform," Bildt said.
Zergun Koruturk, Turkey's ambassador to Sweden, told Swedish television programme Aktuellt that the vote would have "drastic effects" on bilateral relations which were unlikely to be overcome in a short time.
"I am very disappointed," Koruturk said. "Unfortunately, parliamentarians were thinking that they were rather historians than parliamentarians, and it's very, very unfortunate."
A Turkish government source, however, told Reuters that Koruturk would probably return to Sweden soon.
"We know the Swedish government has been very active in trying to stop this resolution," the source said.
Turkey has signaled that its ambassador to the United States will not return until the fate of the non-binding congressional resolution, which also passed by a razor-thin margin, is clear.
The administration of President Barack Obama has vowed to stop the resolution from going further in Congress in a bid to limit the diplomatic fallout. Turkey is crucial to U.S. interests in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
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