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ARMENIA REVIEWS DEAL TO NORMALISE TIES WITH TURKEY
Agence France Presse
Feb 12 2010
YEREVAN -- Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on Friday submitted two
protocols on normalising ties with Turkey after decades of hostility
to parliament for ratification, his office said.
"The presidential administration has already sent the protocols to
parliament for ratification," presidential spokesman Samvel Farmanian
told AFP.
Sarkisian announced this week that he would soon be sending
the protocols on establishing diplomatic ties and reopening the
Armenia-Turkey border to parliament for approval.
But he added that the accords must be voted on by the Turkish
parliament before Armenia's parliament will approve them.
Parliament spokesman Goar Pogosian confirmed that the assembly had
received the protocols and said that within two days a commission
would be established to study them.
Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in October to establish
diplomatic ties and reopen their shared border in a historic step
towards ending decades of hostility stemming from World War I-era
massacres of Armenians under Ottoman Turks.
The protocols must now be ratified by both countries' parliaments but
the process has stalled as the two sides have traded accusations of
trying to modify the landmark deal.
Ankara has accused Yerevan of trying to set new conditions after
Armenia's constitutional court said the protocols could not contradict
Yerevan's official position that the Armenian mass killings constituted
genocide -- a label Turkey fiercely rejects.
Armenia, for its part, is furious over Ankara's insistence that
normalising Turkish-Armenian ties depends on progress in resolving
the conflict between Armenia and Turkish ally Azerbaijan over the
disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan after ethnic Armenian forces wrested Nagorny Karabakh from
Baku's control in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.
The conflict remains unresolved despite years of international
mediation.
Agence France Presse
Feb 12 2010
YEREVAN -- Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on Friday submitted two
protocols on normalising ties with Turkey after decades of hostility
to parliament for ratification, his office said.
"The presidential administration has already sent the protocols to
parliament for ratification," presidential spokesman Samvel Farmanian
told AFP.
Sarkisian announced this week that he would soon be sending
the protocols on establishing diplomatic ties and reopening the
Armenia-Turkey border to parliament for approval.
But he added that the accords must be voted on by the Turkish
parliament before Armenia's parliament will approve them.
Parliament spokesman Goar Pogosian confirmed that the assembly had
received the protocols and said that within two days a commission
would be established to study them.
Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in October to establish
diplomatic ties and reopen their shared border in a historic step
towards ending decades of hostility stemming from World War I-era
massacres of Armenians under Ottoman Turks.
The protocols must now be ratified by both countries' parliaments but
the process has stalled as the two sides have traded accusations of
trying to modify the landmark deal.
Ankara has accused Yerevan of trying to set new conditions after
Armenia's constitutional court said the protocols could not contradict
Yerevan's official position that the Armenian mass killings constituted
genocide -- a label Turkey fiercely rejects.
Armenia, for its part, is furious over Ankara's insistence that
normalising Turkish-Armenian ties depends on progress in resolving
the conflict between Armenia and Turkish ally Azerbaijan over the
disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan after ethnic Armenian forces wrested Nagorny Karabakh from
Baku's control in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.
The conflict remains unresolved despite years of international
mediation.