ANKARA SENDS ARMENIA ACCORDS TO PARLIAMENT
PRESS TV
Oct 21 2009
Iran
The Turkish government has submitted to parliament two landmark
accords calling for restoring relations with Armenia after decades
of hostility.
Ankara and Yerevan signed a historic agreement earlier this month on
establishing diplomatic ties and opening their borders, but the accord
needs to be ratified by their respective parliaments to take effect.
The agreement provoked a mixed public reaction on both sides,
which have been at odds for almost a century over a number of issues
including the allegations of mass killings and deportation of Armenians
by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
While Armenians believe Turkey had escaped the issue of the mass
killings of Armenians during the World War I, Turks say that the
agreement harms Ankara’s relations with a close ally, Azerbaijan,
which is in conflict with Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, however, has said that the
government does not seek a parliamentary vote on diplomatic ties
and the reopening of the border with Armenia unless Yerevan and Baku
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
The ethnic-Armenian enclave broke from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s
with the help of Armenian-backed forces. Since then, Baku and Yerevan
broke off diplomatic relations and Turkey closed its border with
Armenia in a show of support for Azerbaijan.
Armenia is yet to submit the agreement to its parliament, where it
is widely expected to be ratified with the ruling coalition’s support
for the deal.