Turkey, Armenia to sign diplomatic deal: official
27.09.2009 19:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey and Armenia will sign a landmark deal to
establish diplomatic ties next month in Switzerland after a
decades-long grudge over a World War I massacre, a Turkish official
said Sunday.
"The signing is planned to take place on October 10 in Zurich," the
official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey and Eduard Nalbandian of
Armenia are expected to ink two protocols, the texts of which had been
agreed earlier and internationally hailed as a major breakthrough, he
said.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, whose country acted as a
mediator in reconciliation talks between the two neighbours, is also
likely to attend the ceremony, he said.
Long estranged by a bloody history, Turkey and Armenia announced last
month the talks had resulted in two protocols calling for the
establishment of diplomatic ties and re-opening their border.
They also set a timetable for a series of steps to improve ties.
A Swiss foreign ministry official said the signing ceremony "will
probably take place in Switzerland," while Armenian officials were not
available for comment.
The protocols, however, will not take effect immediately.
Both governments will submit the documents to their respective
parliaments for ratification, a process expected to take time.
The United States and the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to
join, have both repeatedly urged Ankara to reconcile with Yerevan.
The deal, however, has come under fire from opposition groups in both
countries, which accuse their governments of making concessions.
Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia over
Yerevan international campaign to have the World War I massacres of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks recognized as genocide.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed in what
was genocide, backed by a number of other countries much to Ankara’s
ire.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and arg civil strife when Armenians
took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading
Russian troops.
In 1993, Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan backing of ethnic
Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno Karabakh
region.