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Turkey, Armenia agree on `road map` to mend ties

24 April 2009 19:21 (UTC+04:00)
Turkey, Armenia agree on `road map` to mend ties
Turkey and Armenia have agreed on a "road map" to normalize relations, the Turkish government said after talks between the two neighboring countries whose ties have been strained for over a decade over historic differences.
This is the first move by Ankara and Yerevan to mend ties since Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to its occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, Turkey`s ally, and Armenian claims regarding the alleged World War I-era genocide.
The negotiations, mediated by Switzerland, "have achieved tangible progress and mutual understanding," the ministry said in a statement. The announcement came as Armenia marks the anniversary of the alleged genocide in 1915 of 1.5 million of its people by Ottoman Turks.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Turkey and Armenia "have agreed on a comprehensive framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations in a mutually satisfactory manner," according to the statement posted on its website. "In this context, a road map has been identified."
The statement did not specify, however, how the "genocide" issue would be resolved and whether or not Turkey and Armenia had agreed on opening their shared border.
"We are not inclined to provide any additional comments on what the statement says," a source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. "We will continue pursuing a policy of quiet diplomacy. It is not time yet to issue statements about the work to be done."
The US government was quick to positively assess the news about progress in Turkish-Armenian talks. Less than an hour after Ankara`s announcement, Robert Wood, the acting US State Department spokesman, said Washington welcomes the statement made by Armenia and Turkey on normalization of their bilateral relations.
"It has long been and remains the position of the United States that normalization should take place without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe. We urge Armenia and Turkey to proceed according to the agreed framework and roadmap. We look forward to working with both governments in support of normalization, and thus promote peace, security and stability in the whole region."
Efforts at reconciliation between the two nations have gathered momentum since President Abdullah Gul traveled to Armenia`s capital, Yerevan, in September, the first visit to the country by a Turkish head of state.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she was "very encouraged by the bold steps" being taken by Turkey and Armenia to reconcile with each other and with their "painful past."
Steps toward "normalizing relations and opening their borders will foster a better environment for confronting that shared, tragic history," Clinton said in comments to the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.
The government in Yerevan has accused Turkey of genocide against Armenians in the latter years of the Ottoman Empire, which preceded modern Turkey. The Turkish government says massacres took place in the context of clashes that related to Armenian groups supporting Russia against Turkey during World War I. Ankara insists the killings were not orchestrated by the Ottoman government and Gul has proposed opening Ottoman archives to international scholars to try to resolve the dispute.
The U.S. says declaring the killings as genocide would hurt relations with an important ally.
The Azerbaijani government has responded to the Turkey-Armenia rapprochement. Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said the agreement threatens to raise tensions.
"Normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations and opening of the border between the two countries must be carried out only and strictly in parallel with the process of the pullout of the Armenian military units from the occupied Azerbaijani territories," Polukhov said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but Armenian armed forces have been persistently breaching ceasefire on the frontline.*

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