Despite the delay due to last-minute disagreements, Turkey and Armenia signed two landmark protocols outlining the restoration of bilateral ties and the opening of their shared border, in Zurich on Saturday. The disagreement stemmed from both sides' objections to language in statements the other wanted to read after signing the deals, concerns that burst into the open just minutes before the ceremony was to begin at the University of Zurich, in the shadow of Switzerland's snowcapped Alps.
Nalbandian did not agree to sign the protocols but was forced to do so upon an order from Lavrov, the Azeri Press Agency (APA) reported on Monday, citing a report by the Russian daily Kommersant.
“According to the Russian newspaper, when the situation became tense, Lavrov gave a note to Nalbandian: ‘Sign it easily and go!' Only after that did Nalbandian sign the protocols,” APA said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's efforts have been widely covered by international news agencies. In a black BMW outside a chalet-style hotel in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, Clinton used high-drama cell phone diplomacy to clinch a historic Armenian-Turkish deal, Agence France-Presse reported.
“There were several times when I said to all of the parties involved that ‘this is too important, this has to be seen through, you have come too far',” Clinton later told reporters on the plane from Zurich to London.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, the host of the ceremony and whose country mediated the talks between Armenia and Turkey, was, meanwhile, hectically busy during those three hours, reports said. “Calmy-Rey was rushing around like a third secretary,” a Turkish diplomat was quoted as saying by the Turkish Sabah daily.
