Opposition in Sweden considers position of Premier on genocide of Armenians illegal

The opposition Social-Democratic Party of Sweden has filed a lawsuit against Prime-Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who has assured his Turkish counterpart that the resolution on genocide of Armenians adopted by the Swedish parliament is not going to be effective as law.

The opposition accuses the premier of actions which run contrary to the Swedish legislation. According to Erik Ostberg, representative of the Social-Democratic party, the apology Reinfeldt offered the Turkish premier Erdogan for the adoption by the parliament of the resolution on the genocide of Armenians and his assurance that the resolution could not be binding on the Swedish authorities are contrary to the Swedish legislation.

"The behaviour of Fredrik Reinfeldt demonstrates that the authorities are against the resolution of people, this is why we have filed a lawsuit against the premier," states the opposition representative.

For reference, on March 11, the Swedish parliament adopted a resolution in which the events of the beginning of the last century in the Ottoman Turkey are characterized as genocide. The bill was adopted with minimum majority: 131 "for" and 130 "against".

The bill was prepared and circulated by MPs from opposition parties, the Social-Democratic and the "Green" parties. The Liberals, Christian Democrats and representatives of the centrist party were against the resolution.

The adoption of the resolution has caused an extremely negative reaction of Ankara which has withdrawn its ambassador from Stockholm.