Sweden Archives

Sweden’s leading expert: It Was Genocide against Armenians in Ottoman Empire, not just deportation

February 23, 2015 By administrator

Professor Emeritus Ove Bring, Sweden’s leading expert in international law

YEREVAN, February 23, Armenpress, on February 19, the Radio Sweden broadcasted an interview with professor Emeritus Ove Bring. Professor Bring is one of Sweden’s leading expert in international law, who authored a number of monographs and publications on genocide.

As reports “Arenpress” Professor Bring introduced the situation in the ottoman Turkey during the years of the Armenian Genocide. He noted that the Ottoman Government faced the issue of assimilating the Armenians and other Christian minorities living on the territory of the Empire, and did it through the annihilation, availing itself of the opportunity provided by the World War First.

The Professor introduced the process of the genocide, highlighting its phased character, due to which first the Armenian intellectuals were arrested and killed, after which the other part of the population (mostly women, children and elders) was deported and killed.

Among other things, Ove Bring underscored that happened in the Ottoman Empire with the Armenians was Genocide, not just deportation, as deportation implies re-settlement of group of people, provision of necessary conditions and dwelling beforehand, but contrary to this, it was ordered to kill as many Armenians as possible on the way of deportation.

Armenian appointed Sweden’s Parliament deputy speaker

September 30, 2014 By administrator

A Sweden Armenian Esabelle Dingizian became one of deputy speakers of Sweden’s Parliament, The Local informs.

After the parliament elections, Social Democrat politician Urban Ahlin was announced as the main speaker of the country‘s parliament, while Tobias Billström from the Moderates and Esabelle Dingizian from the Green Party were announced deputy speakers. The third deputy speaker is Sweden Democrat party secretary Björn Söder.

Confirmed: US spy plane fleeing Russian jet invaded Swedish airspace

August 4, 2014 By administrator

US officials have confirmed Swedish media reports of a mid-July incident in which an American spy plane invaded Sweden’s airspace as it was evading a Russian fighter jet. The maverick plane was spying on Russia when it was intercepted. Reported by RT

The incident, which happened on July 18, went public last Wednesday after a classified document from Sweden’s Defense Ministry was leaked to the press.

The plane, a Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint, entered Sweden’s airspace after permission to do so was denied by traffic control, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper said. It passed from the east over the island of Gotland and flew more than 200km over 90 minutes before leaving.

The aerial incursion was caused by a Russian fighter jet, which scrambled from a base in the exclave Kaliningrad Region and approached the American reconnaissance plane.

Neither party involved in the incident confirmed or denied it, but a source in the US military told CNN on weekend that it indeed happen.

The source said the plane was conducting an electronic eavesdropping mission on the Russian military when the latter locked on to the aircraft with a radar station and sent at least one jet to intercept it. The quickest path of escape was through Swedish airspace, which was what the spy plane pilot did despite the Swedes’ objection.

The source said similar incidents may happen in future, a fact which the US officials made known to Sweden. The CNN report didn’t elaborate on how it was perceived by Sweden, a country that is not even a member of NATO and maintains a non-alliance stance.

Foreign Minister of Sweden: Authoritarian political regime of Azerbaijan will create problems for us

July 17, 2014 By administrator

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt expressed doubts about the sincerity of the Azerbaijani authorities for participating in the EU program “Eastern Partnership”, reports the Azerbaijani news agency “Turan.”

“Azerbaijan is a special story. They are sitting on oil and have a somewhat more authoritarian political development that would create problems for us,” he said during his speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

Bildt noted that the program of “Eastern Partnership” faces greater challenges than in the time of its adoption in 2008.

According to him, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are actively moving forward on the path of European integration, Armenia has decided to join the Customs Union and the situation with Belarus remains unclear.

Assange! Swedish court sets hearing date as whistleblower turns 43

July 3, 2014 By administrator

A Swedish court has set the date for the Assange “rape case” hearing for July 16. The announcement comes as Twitter is bombarded with happy birthday wishes to the WikiLeaks founder, who turned 43 on Thursday, his second year at the Ecuadorean embassy.

The public hearing at Stockholm district court will be the first legal move in the case since the WikiLeaks founder requested asylum in the South-American country’s embassy in 2012.

However, it is more than likely that in two weeks from now the hearing will kick off without the defendant.

Julian Assange, now 43, is still at the Ecuadorean embassy in the UK capital, and showing no signs of getting ready to travel to Stockholm. Should he leave the embassy – even to greet his fans who came to the embassy with happy birthday banners – the whistleblower will be arrested and extradited to Sweden.

Since Swedish prosecutors do not consider the possibility of questioning the WikiLeaks founder in London, Stockholm district court extended Assange’s invitation to come to Sweden for the hearing.

The invitation for Assange was sent to an “address unknown”, the Guardian reported. There are valid reasons, the court said, why he may not attend the hearing, like public transport, sudden illness, or unforeseen circumstances.

If Assange has no good reason not to attend, he was advised to arrive on time and “clear your pockets of metal objects and put them in the plastic bins provided”, the newspaper cited the court’s letter to the whistleblower.

His legal team argued that restrictions of “fundamental freedoms” since the allegations were made in 2010 are unreasonable and disproportionate, but the prosecutor disagreed saying that confinement in the embassy was self-imposed and “cannot be equated with detention”, The Guardian reports.

“In our opinion, when assessing proportionality, only the time [detained] for questioning in the English courts should be taken into account,” the Guardian cited prosecutors Marianne Ny and Ingred Isgren. They pointed out that Assange was arrested for just 10 days in December 2010.

Ukraine is de facto bankrupt – Swedish FM

April 13, 2014 By administrator

Ukraine de facto is bankrupt, the head of Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt believes. Mr. Bildt said this during his visit to the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Saturday, the Voice of Russia reports.

Local media sources also quote him as saying that Ukraine is suffering from deep-rooted corruption.

Carl Bildt qualifies the current situation in Ukraine’s economy as really bad but hopes that it will become better from the package of reforms that is financed by the IMF. He hopes that the new Ukrainian government will take measures that will save the country’s economy from being officially recognized as bankrupt.

The West is offering voluminous help to Ukraine, Mr. Bildt adds, but will exercise tough control to prevent this money from being pocketed by any individuals.

On March 27, Arseny Yatsenyuk, who has been appointed Ukraine’s Prime Minister by the country’s parliament, said that in 2014, the inflation rate in Ukraine will probably reach 12 to 14%. Besides, according to his estimations, the total volume of fiscal deficit has already exceeded 289 bln grivnas (which equals about $ 28 bln).

“Ukraine is on the edge of economic and financial bankruptcy,” Arseny Yatsenyuk says. “It lacks money. The total volume of the fiscal deficit equals 289 bln grivnas”.