Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that his country is set to establish diplomatic relations with its eastern neighbor Armenia on October 10.
There has long been animosity between the two countries primarily, but not exclusively, because of the alleged genocide of Armenians carried out by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War.
Claims that 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottomans are rejected by Turkey, which says that the death toll has been greatly exaggerated.
As the
Voice of America reports another source of tension between the two countries was Turkish support for Azerbaijan's fight in the late 1980s and early 1990s against separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, who were supported by Armenia. In 1993 Turkey closed its border with Armenia as an expression of its support for Azerbaijan.
It is hoped that the border will be reopened if the deal to establish diplomatic relations, to be signed by the Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministers on October 10, is ratified by the parliaments of Turkey and Armenia.
The
BBC reports that it was back in April that discussions began in earnest to improve relations between the two countries.
On October 14 Turkey entertain Armenia in a World Cup qualifying football match. Serge Sarkisian, President of Armenia, which was formerly a part of the Soviet Union, will be attending the match and the
BBC says there have been hopes that a move to establish diplomatic relations might happen around the time of Mr Sarkisian's visit to Turkey.
