[lg policy] Turkey and Armenia to Sign Accord

[Harold Schiffman]

October 10, 2009
Turkey and Armenia to Sign Accord
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:24 a.m. ET

ZURICH (AP) -- The foreign ministers of the United States, Russia,
France and the European Union gathered Saturday in Switzerland to
watch Turkey and Armenia sign an accord establishing diplomatic ties
in hopes of reopening their border and ending a century of acrimony
over their bloody past. Nationalists on both sides are seeking to
derail implementation of the agreement. U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner were among the leaders who
arrived in Zurich on Saturday for the signing later in the day.  ''We
have a very strong interest in promoting peace and stability in that
part of the world,'' said a senior State Department official traveling
with Clinton.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the
agreement doesn't directly involve the U.S., noted that President
Barack Obama spoke to Armenian President Serge Sarkisian to reaffirm
his support for the normalization process. Better ties between Turkey,
a regional heavyweight, and poor, landlocked Armenia are a priority
for Obama. They could help reduce tensions in the troubled Caucasus
region and facilitate its growing role as a corridor for energy
supplies bound for the West. Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy
chief, thanked Turkey, which is a candidate for membership.

''This is an important cooperation, no doubt, of Turkey to solve one
issue that pertains to a region which is in our neighborhood,'' Solana
told AP Television News after arriving in Zurich.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was taking
steps with ''goodwill'' to restore ties with Armenia but that it was
keen on seeing Armenian troops withdrawn from Nagorno-Karabakh.

''We are trying to boost our relations with Armenia in a way that will
cause no hard feelings for Azerbaijan,'' Erdogan told reporters in
Turkey.

Erdogan said Turkey's relations with Armenia after the agreement is
signed Saturday will run parallel to the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Switzerland, which mediated six weeks of talks between Turkey and
Armenia to reach the accord, is hosting the signing.

The contentious issue of whether the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire amounted to
genocide is only hinted at in the agreement, which calls for
diplomatic ties for the first time and the opening of the border
within two months.

.

The foreign ministers of both countries are expected to sign the deal
and both parliaments are expected to ratify it. Clinton was meeting
separately with the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers before the
signing.

Necati Cetinkaya, a deputy chairman of Turkey's ruling Justice and
Development Party, defended the deal, saying ''sincere steps that are
being taken will benefit Turkey.'' He said Turkey is aiming to form
friendly ties with all its neighbors and could benefit from trade with
Armenia.

But Yilmaz Ates of the main opposition Republican People's Party said
Turkey should avoid any concessions.

''If Armenia wants to repair relations ... then it should end
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, that's it,'' Ates said Saturday.

About 10,000 protesters rallied Friday in Armenia's capital to oppose
the signing, and a tour of Armenian communities by Sarkisian sparked
protests in Lebanon and France, with demonstrators in Paris shouting
''Traitor!''

The agreement calls for a panel to discuss ''the historical
dimension'' -- a reference to the genocide issue -- that will include
''an impartial scientific examination of the historical records and
archives to define existing problems and formulate recommendations.''

That clause is viewed as a concession to Turkey because Armenia has
said that genocide was confirmed by international historians, and
further discussion could lead to deadlock. Turkey denies genocide,
contending the toll is inflated and those killed were victims of civil
war.

Another source of dispute is Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in
Azerbaijan that is occupied by Armenian troops. Turks have close
cultural and linguistic ties with Azerbaijan, which is pressing Turkey
for help in recovering its land. Turkey shut its border with Armenia
to protest the Armenian invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993.

Turkey wants Armenia to withdraw some troops from the enclave area to
show goodwill and speed the opening of their joint border, but Armenia
has yet to agree, said Omer Taspinar, Turkey project director at the
Brookings Institution in Washington.

''We may end up in a kind of awkward situation where there are
diplomatic relations, but the border is still closed,'' Taspinar said.

------

Associated Press Writers Matthew Lee and Bradley S. Klapper in Zurich,
Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, and Christopher Torchia in
Istanbul contributed to this report.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/10/world/AP-EU-Turkey-Armenia.html?
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