ARMENIA, TURKEY AGREE TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC TIES

2009/09/01 | 00:25

Politics

Late Monday night, Yerevan time, international news outlets are
reporting that Turkey and Armenia agreed the same day to establish
diplomatic relations, overcoming a seemingly intractable rift that
dates to the early 20th century, culminating in the 1915 Genocide of
Armenians under Ottoman-Turkish rule and the incorporation of western
Armenian lands in the modern Turkish republic.

Monday’s joint statement, issued by the foreign ministries of
Armenia and Turkey and mediator Switzerland, said they would begin
"internal political consultations" on protocols to establish diplomatic
relations and develop bilateral relations. (See full text of statement
in separate "Hetq" article)

The neighboring countries, which agreed to restart negotiations
after mediation from Switzerland, would be setting up and developing
relations for the first time, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman
Burak Ozugergin said.

He said the upcoming talks should last about six weeks, he said.

It is unclear, however, whether the talks will touch on the dispute
over the World War I-era killings.

The issue is a major stumbling block to Turkey’s aspirations to join
the European Union and has strained ties with the United States,
with both pressuring Turkey to recognize the killings as genocide.

Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s
independence in 1991, but the two countries never established
diplomatic relations and their joint border has been closed since 1993.