Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Turkey, Armenia Must Honour Peace Deals-Turkey's Gul

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Turkey, Armenia Must Honour Peace Deals-Turkey's Gul

    TURKEY, ARMENIA MUST HONOUR PEACE DEALS-TURKEY'S GUL

    Reuters
    Feb 11 2010
    UK

    ANKARA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Turkey and Armenia must show political
    courage and honour their commitments to bury a century of hostility,
    Turkey's president said on Thursday, after the two countries accused
    each other of trying to rewrite the accords.

    Four months after Turkey and Armenia signed an historic deal to open
    their border with the endorsement of the United States, the European
    Union and Russia, the process has been thrown into question by the
    weight of still-unresolved disputes.

    "We have to be aware that concluding this historic process will require
    honouring our commitments in their entirety as well as displaying
    adequate political courage and vision," Turkey's President Abdullah Gul
    said in a letter addressed to his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarksyan.

    "Overcoming long-established prejudices and nurturing mutual
    understanding and trust among our two neighbouring peoples were our
    main objectives when endorsing the process of normalisation between
    our countries. You should have no doubt that our determination to
    move these objectives forward is intact, provided this resolve and
    commitment remains reciprocal."

    On Wednesday, Sarksyan said the accords must be voted on by the
    Turkish parliament before Armenia's parliament would approve them,
    and warned that Armenia could break off the effort to normalise
    relations if Turkey dragged its feet.

    The accords require approval by both parliaments.

    Ankara and Yerevan have accused each other of trying to re-write
    the texts, which are the closest the sides have come to overcoming
    the legacy of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during
    World War One.

    Turkey has demanded that ethnic Armenian forces pull back from the
    front lines of the disputed mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh as
    a condition of ratifying the peace deal. This has aroused fierce
    resistance in Armenia.

    The Turkish condition is aimed at placating close Muslim ally
    Azerbaijan, an oil and gas exporter which lost control over
    Nagorno-Karabakh when ethnic Armenians there, backed by Christian
    Armenia, broke away as the Soviet Union collapsed.

    The accords made no mention of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia and Turkey
    said they would create a commission to investigate the WWI massacres,
    which Armenia -- backed by several European states and many historians
    -- says was genocide.

    Turkey rejects the term and says many Muslims and Christians died
    during the chaotic collapse of the Ottoman empire.

    The deal would bring big economic gains to poor, landlocked Armenia.

    Turkey would burnish its credentials as a potential EU entry state
    and boost its clout in the South Caucasus, a region criss-crossed
    by pipelines carrying oil and gas to the West. (Writing by Ibon
    Villelabeitia; editing by Andrew Roche)
Working...
X