‘TURKEY LIKELY TO SEAL DEAL WITH ARMENIA’
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Thursday, October 08, 2009
ANKARA/WASHINGTON: Turkey expects historic accords to normalise ties
with Armenia to be signed on Saturday in Switzerland in a step towards
ending a century of hostility, senior Turkish government sources said
on Wednesday.
Doubts had emerged in diplomatic circles about whether the ceremony
would take place because of pressure from the powerful Armenian
diaspora, as well as opposition within Armenia and to a certain
extent Turkey.
"There are no changes to those plans," a senior Turkish government
source, referring to the planned signature of protocols in Zurich on
Oct 10, told Reuters. Another government source, who also declined
to be named, agreed.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties because of hostility
what the latter says stemming from the mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War One. Turkey closed its border with
Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with fellow Muslim Azerbaijan, then at
war with Armenian-backed ethnic Armenians.
Turkey and Armenia agreed on Aug 31 to sign, within six weeks, two
protocols on the establishment of diplomatic ties, opening a common
border and for historians to investigate the events surrounding the
killings of Armenians in 1915.
But Armenia was taken by surprise when Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan a nnounced in New York that the agreements would be signed
on Oct 10.
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials later told reporters each country’s
foreign minister would attend the ceremony in Zurich.
Armenian officials were not available for comment.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan is on a week-long intercontinental
charm offensive to calm concerns in the Armenian diaspora over the
historic thaw with Turkey. Diplomatic observers also fear the signing
could be disrupted by demands by some Turks for a resolution on the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Armenian nationalists demand that Turkey acknowledge the 1915 killings
as genocide. Ankara rejects the term genocide, saying that many people
died on both sides of the conflict.
Once the protocols are signed they must be approved by the respective
parliaments. This leaves open the possibility that either side delays
the approval in case they face unexpected domestic opposition.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama urged Turkey and Armenia to
move swiftly on normalisation talks after decades of hostility,
the White House said on Tuesday. During a call to Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian on Monday, Obama "underscored the US position that
the normalisation talks should move forward without preconditions and
within a reasonable timeframe," the White House said in a statement.
"President Obama pledged his full support for a process that would
result in normaliszation of relations between the two countries and
a brighter future for all involved."
Obama, it added, called Sarkisian to "commend him for his courageous
leadership" and encourage the "continued progress" of normalisation
talks.
From: Baghdasarian