TURKEY, ARMENIA TO SIGN LANDMARK DEAL SOON: TURKISH OFFICIAL
Agence France Presse
September 16, 2009 Wednesday 1:35 PM GMT
A landmark deal to establish ties between long-time foes Turkey and
Armenia is likely to be signed ahead of a football game between the
two countries next month, a Turkish official said Wednesday.
Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin made the comment
in reacting to media reports that the deal would be signed on October
13, the day before the football teams from Turkey and Armenia meet
for a World Cup qualification game.
"We have a month…. I think the signing will be sometime around this
time," Ozugergin told reporters.
Long estranged by a bloody history, Turkey and Armenia announced last
month they had agreed on the text of two protocols that envisage the
establishment of diplomatic relations and the re-opening their border,
setting also a timetable for a series of steps to improve ties.
Following the signing, the protocols will be submitted to the Turkish
and Armenian parliaments for ratification, after which they will
take effect.
The deal has come under fire from opposition groups in both countries,
which accuse their governments of making concessions.
The fence-mending process had gathered steam in September 2008 when
Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan to
watch the first leg of the World Cup qualification match between
Turkey and Armenia.
It is not yet clear whether Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian will
return the gesture when the two countries’ teams play their second
game in the northwestern Turkish city of Bursa on October 14.
Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia over
Yerevan’s international campaign to have the World War I massacres of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks recognised as genocide — a label Turkey
strongly rejects.
In 1993, Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan’s backing of
ethnic Armenian separatists in the Azerbaijani breakaway region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
