History Brochure sparks tension between Turkey and Sweden - Agence France Press, 2 Febuary 2002

ANKARA, Feb 2 (AFP) - Turkey's foreign ministry Saturday summoned Sweden's number two diplomat and formally protested at a controversial Swedish brochure about Turkish history, distributed at a bilateral meeting in western Turkey.

The brochure, published in Sweden with a preface by Prime Minister Goeran Persson, said the word "Turk" did not signify a people or a nation, but a linguistic group, according to Turkish media reports.

It said 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by Ottoman military units, comprised mainly of Kurds, during the dissloution years of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s and the Turks then turned gainst the Kurds, killing about 800,000 of them, fearing Kurdish separatism, according to Milliyet daily.

The foreign ministry said the brochure's contents were unacceptable, adding that the Swedish ambassador to Turkey, Anne Dismorr, would also be summoned once she returned to Ankara from Izmir, where the brochure was circulated on Friday.

The small document, penned by a diplomat who has served in Turkey, was distributed by Swedish embassy officials at a so-called "Swedish Business Culture Day" gathering, organized by local businessmen and attended by the Swedish ambassador.

The brochure triggered protests by the guests and sparked a row between the ambassador and the head of a local business association, who later walked out.

In his meeting at the foreign ministry Saturday, the Swedish charge d'affaires said the brochure's publisher, the Swedish Institute, was an independent institution and that Persson's preface was a standard text used in similar brochures about EU member and candidate countries, a foreign ministry statement said.

"A more satisfactory explanation was demanded about the brochure and its distribution at the Izmir gathering," it added.

Members of the opposition center-right True Path Party, meanwhile, laid a black wreath in front of the Swedish embassy here, Anatolia news agency said.