ANKARA AND YEREVAN TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC TIES

Europolitics (daily in English)
September 2, 2009 Wednesday

Armenia and Turkey announced, on 31 August, that they had concluded
an agreement, brokered by Switzerland, to establish bilateral
ties and to open their borders – a major gesture aimed at building
reconciliation between the two neighbours. In a joint statement, the
foreign ministers of the two nations said that Armenia and Turkey had
agreed to launch "internal political consultations" on two protocols,
one on establishing diplomatic relations and the other on developing
bilateral ties. The political consultations "will be completed in six
weeks, after which the two protocols will be signed and submitted to
the respective parliaments for ratification".

The border between the two countries would be opened "within two
months" following the entry into force of the protocols, the Armenian
minister told the French press agency AFP. The protocols also provide
for the creation of a joint commission in charge of reviewing the
"historic dimension" of the enmity between Armenia and Turkey, he
said. Ankara has not maintained diplomatic relations with Yerevan since
Armenia’s independence in 1991 due to differences over the question
of the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and
1917. Turkey also sealed its border with Armenia in 1993 out of support
for Azerbaijan: Baku was at loggerheads with Yerevan over control of
the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave of Armenians in Azerbaijan.

The European Commission welcomed the agreement and urged the parties
to seek "rapid implementation of the protocols," adding that this
"should contribute to peace and stability in the South Caucus".