TURKEY, ARMENIA SET FORMAL TALKS
United Press International
Aug 31 2009
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Aug. 31 (UPI) — Turkey and Armenia announced Monday
they will establish diplomatic relations and will hold bilateral
talks in Switzerland.
The two nations have been feuding for a century but have been holding
low-profile talks for a year, The New York Times reported Monday. The
aim of the upcoming talks is to arrive at a formal agreement, the
newspaper said.
The joint statement did not mention how the two nations intend to
deal with difficult disputes — including the killing of more than
1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turk government between 1915 and
1918. The Turkish government has consistently denied the longstanding
Armenian assertion that the killing was genocide.
Turkey and Armenia have never had diplomatic relations and their common
border has been closed since 1993, following a war between Armenia
and Azerbaijan. Turkey sided with Azerbaijan in the dispute over the
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, but reconsidered its security posture last
year after Russia’s military action against Georgia, the Times said.
Turkey has been working on improving relations with nearby nations
in the Caucasus and the recently elected Armenian government has
expressed interest in improving relations as well, the newspaper said.