ZURICH - A crisis erupted during signing of two protocols on the establishment of diplomatic ties and development of relations between Turkey and Armenia in Swiss city of Zurich on Saturday.
Turkish diplomatic sources said that a dispute over the final statements which the parties would make at the end of the ceremony escalated tension between the two parties.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey of Switzerland met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu prior to the signing ceremony and told him that the Armenian party could object to the text of Davutoglu's speech since there were some differences in texts of the parties.
Armenian party felt uneasy about some parts of Davutoglu's speech in which he stressed that the Caucasus should become a region of peace and tranquillity and the Upper Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia should be resolved. Armenian party has been defending from the very beginning that normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations and the Upper Karabakh dispute were two separate issues.
Turkish party turned down Armenian party's demand about exclusion of those expressions from Davutoglu's speech, and objected to the text of Nalbandian's speech in return. Turkish party said that Nalbandian referred to historical events in his speech and demanded exclusion of such expressions. The signing ceremony came to a deadlock after both parties rejected to take a step back.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy Rey played an active role and tried to persuade the parties.
When Turkish and Armenian delegations did not accept to revise texts of the speeches, Turkish party proposed to cancel the scheduled speeches altogether.
Armenian party insisted on delivering the speech, but Clinton and Calmy Rey succeeded in putting an end to the uncertainty.
In the end, the signing took place about three hours later and there were no spoken statements.
Sources said that Armenia could made a written or verbal statement in an efort to retrieve.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who were also in Zurich to attend the signing ceremony displayed an attitude in favor of Turkey.
Meanwhile, Davutoglu called on President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on phone and informed them about the developments.