Stockholm (AINA) -- A minor scandal has unfolded in Sweden as Assyrian and Armenian groups revealed the Swedish government censored the minister of integration after he mentioned the Seyfo genocide in a speech. Seyfo (sword) is the Assyrian name of the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War One. The genocide claimed 750,000 Assyrian lives (75%) as well as 500,000 Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians.

The issue flared when Swedish minister for integration, Erik Ullenhag, gave a speech in the main synagogue in Stockholm on January 27, the official Holocaust remembrance day. In his speech Mr Ullenhag said:

"Adolf Hitler is said to have uttered the words 'Who remembers the Armenians?' He was referring to the genocide carried out during the First World War killing approximately one million Armenians and half a million Assyrians in today's Turkey."

The entire speech was then posted on the official Swedish government webpage and subsequently censored. The entire quotation above was removed from the speech. Armenian and Assyrian groups soon discovered an article on the homepage of the Turkish federation of Sweden in which the Turks proudly proclaimed the passage about Seyfo was removed after the Turkish embassy in Stockholm pressured the Swedish government.