CLINTON HAILS TURKEY, ARMENIA STEPS TOWARD NORMALIZING RELATIONS

Daily Star
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Lebanon

NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday hailed
steps taken by Turkey and Armenia to normalize their ties as she
met here with the foreign ministers of both countries. In Ankara,
Turkish officials said Sunday that Turkey and Armenia will sign a
landmark deal to establish diplomatic ties next month in Switzerland
in a bid to end decades of animosity over World War I massacres.

"I want to reiterate our very strong support for the normalization
process that is going on between Armenia and Turkey," Clinton told
reporters as she posed for photographs with Armenian Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian.

Washington supports normalization taking place "without preconditions
and within a reasonable time frame," the chief US diplomat recalled
at the meeting in a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN General
Assembly.

"We are also very committed to the democratic development of Armenia,"
she added.

"We want to be a partner and a friend in increasing prosperity and
economic development as well. So this is a comprehensive relationship,"
she said.

"We are very focused on the challenge of normalization which Armenia
has demonstrated great commitment to, yet our relationship is much
broader and much deeper in addition to that," she added.

While later receiving Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu,
Clinton said: "I very much appreciate the strong commitment that the
Turkish government has made to the Armenia normalization process."

In Ankara, a Turkish government official said on the condition of
anonymity that Davutoglu and Nalbandian will meet in the Swiss city
of Zurich on October 10 to ink two protocols.

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 s ies of steps to improve ties.

Both governments will submit the documents to their respective
parliaments for ratification, a process expected to take considerable
time.

The United States and the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to
join, have both repeatedly urged Ankara to reconcile with Yerevan.

Ties have long been tense as Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their
people were killed in a genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War
I. Turkey rejects the genocide label.

In 1993, Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan. The move came over Yerevan’s
backing of ethnic Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan’s breakaway
Nagorny Karabakh region.

Turkey’s government has won international praise for efforts to
end its bitter dispute with Armenia and to expand rights for Kurds,
but a fierce battle is brewing at home over the highly charged issues.

According to parliamentary sources, the government will put the two
issues before lawmakers soon after they resume legislative work on
October 6 – five days after Parliament re-opens.

But it will have a tough time winning over opposition parties that
have already raised objections to both projects.

For Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the two issues are of utmost
importance to Turkey’s standing on the international arena, but they
could also cost him politically at home.

The protocols due to be signed with Armenia in October need
parliamentary ratification before they can take effect.

Erdogan’s government has been accused at home of making concessions
that damage Turkey’s interests and of selling out Azerbaijan, a top
ally of Ankara. – AFP