Turkey, Armenia sign deal to ease century of enmity
Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:24pm BST
ZURICH (Reuters) – Turkey and Armenia signed agreements on Saturday to
establish diplomatic ties and open borders after a century of hostility
stemming from the World War One mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
forces.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart
Edward Nalbandian signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich at a meeting
attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who helped smooth
over last-minute disagreements about statements given at the ceremony.
The Turkish and Armenian parliaments must now approve the deal in the
face of opposition from nationalists on both sides and a Armenian
diaspora which insists Turkey acknowledge the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians as genocide.
(Reporting by Zerin Elci and Jeff Mason)