Pact signed, but Turkey won't open Armenia border yet

ANKARA/ZURICH: Turkey's prime minister yesterday said the opening of the country's border with Armenia would be linked to progress on a disputed region, casting doubt on landmark deals signed between the two nations.

"We want all the borders to be opened at the same time ...," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting of officials from his party. "But as long as Armenia has not withdrawn from Azerbaijani territory that it is occupying, Turkey cannot have a positive attitude on this subject," he added, referring to the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region.

Turkey and Armenia signed deals on Saturday to normalize relations and open their shared border after decades of hostility over World War I-era massacres.

A long-running dispute over Nagorny-Karabakh - an Armenian-majority enclave which broke free from Turkish-backed Azerbaijan after a war - has been another stumbling block toward reconciliation between the two countries.

3-hour 'last-minute glitch'

On Saturday, the pact - sponsored by top European and US officials - was only squeezed through by a frenetic diplomatic scramble, after it was held up for more than three hours by a "last minute hitch" over speeches the two sides were to make after the signing in Zurich, officials said.

Armenia's foreign ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said there were "unacceptable formulations for the Armenian side" in parts of a speech to be delivered by Turkey's top diplomat, the Novosti-Armenia agency reported.

"Suddenly the text was being discussed... once one raises a problem, everybody raised problems," a Turkish official said.

But Armenian Foreign Minister Edouard Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu ultimately shook hands after signing the two protocols at the University of Zurich.

The two ministers and US, Russian, French and EU counterparts immediately left the room instead of making scheduled statements, in an agreement to bypass the hitch, diplomats said.

Tough stance at home

The two protocols establish diplomatic ties, set up regular dialogue including on their emotionally-charged history, and open the Armenian-Turkish border, a US official said.

The bridge-building by the two governments after more than a year of discreet Swiss-mediated talks is still hampered by fierce opposition from critics at home.

Stepan Safarian, a leading member of Armenia's opposition Heritage party, told AFP that the protocols brought "a period of great risks and big uncertainty."

A leader of Turkey's main opposition party, Onur Oymen, on CNN-Turk television accused the Ankara government of "abdication in the face of external pressures" and said the deal was "very worrying for the future of our country."

The protocols still have to clear the hurdle of parliamentary ratification in each country before they can take effect.

AFP

(China Daily 10/12/2009 page8)