Armenia and Turkey normalise ties

Turkey and Armenia have signed a historic accord normalising relations after a century of hostility.

The deal was signed by the two foreign ministers after last-minute problems delayed the ceremony in Switzerland.

Under the agreement, Turkey and Armenia are to resume diplomatic ties and re-open their shared border.

The accord has been met by protests in Armenia, where many people say it does not fully address the 1915 killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians.

Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.

The agreement calls for a joint commission of independent historians to study the genocide issue.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian, signed the protocols in Switzerland after a delay of more than three hours.

The BBC’s Kim Ghattas in Zurich says the Armenians had apparently raised objections to a statement due to be read out by the Turkish delegation.

The accord needs to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries.

The ceremony was attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the EU’s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana.
International campaign

On Friday thousands of people protested against the deal in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

“The international recognition of the Armenian genocide will be hindered by this signature, or ratification,” said Vahan Hovanissyan, a member of parliament for the nationalist Dashnak Tsutyun party.

One protester told the BBC he was not opposed to the opening of the border, but was “against the setting up of a commission that will allow Turkey to further postpone declaring the killings as genocide”.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman empire. They were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.

Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as genocide – and more than 20 countries have done so.

Turkey admits that many Armenians were killed but says the deaths were part of the widespread fighting that took place in World War I.

A roadmap for normalising relations between Turkey and Armenia was agreed in April.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 because of its war with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh

BBC News

10.10.2009