Turkey and Armenia sign accords to restore diplomatic relations and open borders after almost a century of hostility towards each other.
The two countries worked together for a series of protocols to follow after six weeks of negotiations mediated by Switzerland. The agreement was signed by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian. The agreements must still be approved by each country officially.
The ceremony was attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, European Union Foreign policy chief Javier Solana and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
The long standing dispute between Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has gotten in the way of the two countries trying to reconcile. Turkey sided with Azerbaijan and cut ties with Armenia as it sided with its ally Azerbaijan over the ongoing war in that area. Talks between the two countries on October 9th did not resolved the issue.
Azerbaijan is pissed and said no deal until Armenian forces withdraw from the disputed territory: https://www.rferl.org/a/Azerbaijan_Rejects_ArmeniaTurkey_Deal/1848733.html
Azerbaijan claimed that normalizing relations between the two countries before the withdraw of Armenian forces would be against the interests of the country.
The OSCE (Organization for the Security and Cooperation of Europe) was also present and welcomed the historic agreement between the two countries.
Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/Turkey_Armenia_To_Sign_Landmark_Agreement_To_Normalize_Ties/1848293.html
