Ankara uneasy over decision taken by Swiss

Diplomatic sources said decision taken by the legislation organ of western canton of Vaud on recognition of so-called genocide on Armenians, not only recognized one-sided, historically questionable and unsubstantiated allegations of Armenians, but also questioned the Lausanne Treaty which was the foundation of Turkish Republic.

Sources said Swiss Federal authorities were informed beforehand that such a decision would cause harsh reactions in Turkish public.

Diplomatic sources said in this negative atmosphere it would be impossible for the scheduled visit of Calmy-Rey to make expected positive contributions to bilateral relations. Sources said the Swiss authorities were conveyed that postponement of the visit to a future date would be beneficial and appropriate in every respect.

Sources said despite this, Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey mis-reflected the issue, stating that Ankara expressed regret over reiteration of allegations on so-called genocide on Armenians.

Sources said Turkey attributed a special importance to relations with Switzerland, and was willing to further improve relations, emphasizing that Switzerland was also expected to show the same sensitivity on issues which Turkey was sensitive.

Calmy-Rey claimed that her scheduled visit to Turkey, expected to take place on October 6, was called off by Ankara, and added that Turkey cancelled the visit to protest attitude of the canton in recognizing so-called genocide on Armenians.