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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Turkey, Armenia agree to establish diplomatic ties

Turkey and Armenia agreed Monday to establish diplomat relations, overcoming a seemingly intractable rift that dates to the early 20th century and was marked by massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule.

The neighboring countries, which agreed to restart negotiations after mediation from Switzerland, would be setting up and developing relations for the first time, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said. He said the upcoming talks should last about six weeks, he said. The issue is a major stumbling block to Turkey's aspirations to join the European Union and has strained ties with the United States, with both pressuring Turkey to recognize the killings as genocide.

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