Turkey and Armenia sign historic agreement

October 13, 2009 Turkey and Armenia signed an historic agreement, agreeing to normalize bilateral relations and reopen borders after a century of animosity. It was signed in Zurich, Switzerland.

The signing ceremony was delayed because of the Armenian delegation. After three-hour long discussion, the dispute resolved and the protocol signed by the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and the Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan, with participation of the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The agreement establishes diplomatic relations between the two countries for the first time, and reopens their shared border, which has been closed since 1993. For it to take effect, both countries' parliaments must ratify it.