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Turkey, Armenia to sign diplomatic deal: official

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  • Turkey, Armenia to sign diplomatic deal: official

    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.
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