NORMALIZATION SHOULD TAKE PLACE WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS AND WITHIN A REASONABLE TIMEFRAME
AZG DAILY
01-10-2009
Armenia-Turkey
According to Turkish press, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
has pressed Armenia and Turkey to follow through on their commitment
to normalize relations after decades of hostility.
In separate meetings on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly,
Clinton told the foreign ministers of the two countries that they
should proceed apace and not get bogged down by political opposition
to a deal, which they hope to seal by mid-October.
Normalization "should take place without preconditions and within
a reasonable timeframe," Clinton said as she met Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian. She later delivered a similar message to
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, U.S. officials said. While
Davutoglu informed Clinton on the recent developments in Turkey’s
relations with Armenia, the U.S. secretary of state told him that
Washington supports the process.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday that
Turkey and Armenia would sign a deal to establish diplomatic ties
on Oct. 10. But the agreement must be approved by the countries’
parliaments to take effect and a major dispute remains over the 1915
killings of Armenians. Despite the Armenian claims, Turkey says it
wasn’t a "genocide" and that the death toll has been inflated.