US says Armenia-Turkey deal overcomes decades of hostility
AFP
LONDON - The pacts signed Saturday between Turkey and Armenia to normalise relations between the two neighbours were "historic" and overcame "decades of hostility", a top US diplomat said.
"This evening we witnessed a historic signing," Phil Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told reporters.
Gordon is travelling with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who landed in London late Saturday as part of her five-day, six-city tour of Europe.
Clinton was in the Swiss city of Zurich to witness the signing ceremony.
US President Barack Obama telephoned Clinton as she headed to Zurich airport after the event.
A senior US official said Obama "was very excited" by the deal and considered it a "big step forward".
Turkey and Armenia signed landmark agreements to normalise their relations and open their shared border, a first step towards reconciliation after a century of hostility over Ottoman era massacres.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edouard Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu shook hands after signing the two protocols.
But the signing attended by top European and US officials did not go as smoothly as planned, with the ceremony delayed by an apparent dispute over statements the two sides were to make afterward, causing them to be scrapped.
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