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Swedish–Turkish relations are foreign relations between Sweden and Turkey.
Contents
Sweden has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate–general in Istanbul. Turkey has an embassy in Stockholm.
History
Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Union for the Mediterranean.
Sweden, which took over the rotating presidency of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in July 2009, supports Turkey's European Union membership. Sweden's Green Party has criticized France and Germany's opposition to Turkey's membership.
Armenian Genocide dispute
On 12 June 2008, the Riksdag refused to refer to the 1915 events of the Armenian Genocide as actual genocide. However, on 11 March 2010, the Riksdag eventually voted for a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
There was a majority of one vote, with a total of 131 in favour, 130 against, and 88 absent. Turkey promptly recalled its ambassador to Sweden and cancelled talks that were intended to happen between the two countries on March 17, 2010.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responded by issuing a statement saying "We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations. It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations". Turkey's ambassador to Sweden Zergun Koruturk said on Aktuellt that there would be "drastic effects" of a long-term nature on relations between the two countries, saying "I am very disappointed. Unfortunately, parliamentarians were thinking that they were rather historians than parliamentarians, and it's very, very unfortunate". Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt blogged from Copenhagen that he "regretted" the outcome of the vote.