Turkey to send troops to Armenia as per international treaty

Uğur Ergan – ANKARA

Turkey will send troops to Armenia on Oct. 11 in compliance with an international treaty, the Turkish General Staff has stated.

A Turkish inspection team will be sent to Armenia, with whom Turkey has no diplomatic ties, for a three-day inspection period as part of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, the General Staff announced.

“Within the context of the CFE Treaty, CFE inspection will be held in Armenia under the leadership of Turkey between Oct. 11 and Oct. 14, 2015. During the Turkish inspection, a guest inspector from Slovakia will also be present along with the Turkish inspectors. Our CFE Inspection Team will return home on Oct. 14 after fulfilling the inspection,” the statement said.

Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations, while Ankara closed its border with Yerevan in 1993 due to the latter’s war with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A rapprochement process between the two countries began in 2008. In October 2009, Armenian and Turkish officials initiated protocols to normalize relations, but the documents have not been ratified since then and have faced immense criticism in both countries.

The protocols, which call for the establishment of diplomatic ties and the reopening of the shared border, also called for a joint commission to examine the two countries’ shared history. Armenia recognizes the mass killings of Anatolian Armenians in the Ottoman era in 1915 as “genocide” – a label fiercely rejected by Turkey.