Armenia: Swedish Prime Minister Regrets Armenian Genocide Vote

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has tried to make amends with Turkey for the Swedish parliament's decision to term the 1915 massacre of ethnic Armenians a genocide, Turkish officials say.

Reinfeldt phoned his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on March 14 to say he regretted Swedish lawmakers' decision, Turkey's Today Zaman newspaper reported. The newspaper cited a statement from Tayyip Erdogan's office. Reinfeldt reportedly offered his apologies and distanced himself from the March 11 parliamentary resolution, which has strained relations between Ankara and Stockholm.

In the wake of the vote, Turkey, which has long opposed Armenia's international campaign for recognition of the killings as genocide, said that it is not the Swedish parliament's job to "pass judgment on history."

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt agreed. "It is regrettable, as [the] politicization of ... history serves no useful purpose," Today's Zaman quoted Bildt as saying.