Xinhua, China
Sept 7 2008

FM: Armenia, Turkey ready to normalize ties

MOSCOW, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — Armenian and Turkish top diplomats have
expressed will to normalize bilateral relations that were damned by
"massacres" allegations in the first half of last century, according
to reports reaching here on Friday.

Armenian Foreign Ministers Edvard Nalbandyan and his Turkish
counterpart Ali Babacan expressed determination to full-fledged
normalization of bilateral relations during their two-hour talks late
on Saturday in Yerevan, Itar-Tass said.

Nalbandyan confirmed Armenia’s readiness to establish relations with
Turkey without any preconditions, considering Turkish President
Abdullah Gul’s visit earlier that day a serious impulse in this
direction.

The two diplomats also discussed Turkey’s initiative to create a
platform for the stability and security in the Caucasus, Itar-Tass
reported.

Gul held talks with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian in
Yerevan during his first visit to the Caucasus state, which was widely
seen as an opportunity to help thaw the frozen ties between the two
countries.

Armenia has claimed that up to 1.5 million Armenians died as a result
of "massacres" during the Turkish Ottoman period between 1915 and
1923, but Turkey categorically rejects the accusation, saying that
300,000 Armenians along with many Turks died in civil strife that
emerged when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern
Anatolia.

In 1993, Ankara also closed their land border in a show of solidarity
with Azerbaijan, a Turkic-speaking ally which was fighting
Armenian-backed separatists over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Though Turkey recognized the state of Armenia soon after its
independence, there have been no formal diplomatic ties between them
currently.

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