Armenia & Turkey Sign Accord
It was incredible history in the making. It took over 100 years, but today Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark peace accord to restore ties and open their joint border.
After a century of hostility stemming from the World War One mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces, Turkey’s Foreign MinisterAhmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich.
The ceremony was attended by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and France’s Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
Reuters reported that there were serious objections from nationalists on both sides to the normalization of ties and the reopening of the border.
The Armenians, especially the Armenian Diaspora, insists Turkey acknowledge the killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces in World War One as genocide.
Then on the Turkish side is the decades-old dispute between Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The deal sets a timetable for restoring diplomatic ties and opening their borders, however it must then be approved by their parliaments.
