Turkey Sets Condition For Ties With Armenia

One day after Turkey signed a deal the United States helped salvage to end a century of enmity with Armenia, Turkey's leader set a tough condition for normalizing ties on Sunday: Armenia must withdraw from the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The statement appeared to be an effort by Turkey to appease close ally Azerbaijan, which said the agreement will aggravate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nagorno-Karabakh is an Armenian-occupied enclave in Azerbaijan.

On Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the agreement to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia and reopen their border. He called such steps with a former bitter foe an "important step" that would lead to cooperation and dialogue.

However, Erdogan said the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute must be resolved to enable Turkey to take steps to normalize ties and for the deal to be approved by parliament. To take effect, the agreements must be ratified by the Turkish and Armenian parliaments, but the accord faces stiff opposition in both countries.

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