ZURICH - Turkey and Armenia signed a historic agreement to establish normal diplomatic relations and reopen their borders on Saturday, after a last-minute dispute over wording sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other diplomats into frantic efforts to salvage the deal.

For Turkey and Armenia, neighbors sundered by a century of bitterness over the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, the tumultuous day illustrated how hard it is to heal the wounds of history.

For Mrs. Clinton, nine months into her job, it was a bracing taste of down-to-the-wire, limousine diplomacy.

The arduous negotiations between the countries had been actively encouraged by the Obama administration, and with an agreement in sight, Mrs. Clinton flew to Switzerland to witness the signing as a show of American support. Instead, she found herself performing triage.

Sitting in a parked, black BMW sedan at a hilltop hotel here, with aides thrusting papers at her, Mrs. Clinton worked two cellphones at once as she tried to resolve differences between the Armenian foreign minister, Eduard Nalbandian, and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

Mrs. Clinton continued her efforts inside with Mr. Nalbandian and then gave him a ride to the University of Zurich, where the ceremony was to be held. By her own account, she did most of the talking on the brief trip - appealing to him not to let months of talks go up in smoke.

"There were several times I said to all the parties involved, 'This is too important, this has to be seen through, we have come too far,' " she recalled. Mrs. Clinton declined to describe the differences between the two sides.

Shortly after 8 p.m., three hours late, the two men sat down to sign the agreements, though in a compromise worked out beforehand, neither delivered a statement. The agreement must now be ratified by the Parliaments of both countries, by no means a sure thing.

"We recognize how hard it is, and what courage it takes to move forward in the face of very strong opposition in both countries," Mrs. Clinton said.

Any easing of tension between Turkey and Armenia was bound to be fragile. The deal faces particularly fierce opposition from Armenia's far-flung and politically potent diaspora. Many Armenians insist that ties should not be normalized until Turkey acknowledges that the killing of more than one million Armenians at the end of World War I constituted genocide.

Most scholars agree that those killings fit the definition of genocide. But Turkey has vehemently denied that judgment, and the government has supported prosecution of Turks who have spoken out about the issue.

As part of the agreement, the two countries would pledge to establish an international commission to research World War I-era archives to clarify the extent of the massacre. Some Armenians fear this will produce a revisionist history that dilutes the enormity of the killing.

The countries would have to open their borders within two months after ratification, and establish the historical commission within four months.

For their part, Turks protest that Armenia has yet to settle an ugly fight with Azerbaijan, its neighbor and a close ally of Turkey, over a breakaway Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan known as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey sealed off its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenian troops occupied some territories around Nagorno-Karabakh. There are limited charter flights between Turkey and Armenia, but no scheduled traffic and no substantial trade.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party holds a clear majority in the Parliament, has threatened to delay ratification of the deal until Armenia cedes these territories.

Beyond these distant and current disputes, some Turks argue that landlocked, economically struggling Armenia has little to offer the ambitious Turkish economy. Closer ties, they say, will only risk fraying Turkey's relations with Azerbaijan, which is an energy giant.

"We have a lot to sell, but they neither have the money to buy nor a variety of goods to offer," said Ali Nail Celik, the head of the Businessmen's Association in the border town of Agri, Turkey.

For advocates of the deal, however, normalized relations and open borders would radically improve people's lives.

Kaan Soyak, co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council, said that by efficiently using existing rail lines, the two countries could become a "regional business hub."

The United States, along with France and Russia, played a key role in prodding the two sides to come to terms. President Obama placed an encouraging call last week to the president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, while Mrs. Clinton has placed 29 calls to Turkish and Armenian officials since taking office, and pulled Mr. Sargsyan away from a soccer match to talk on Saturday.

For the United States, a reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia would alter the strategic balance in southeastern Europe. It could open new routes for oil and gas pipelines to the West, as well as a possible alternative supply line for American troops in Afghanistan, though administration officials insisted that had nothing to do with their eagerness for a deal.

As Mr. Obama sought an agreement, he had to balance the strategic importance of Turkey, a NATO ally eager for an agreement to smooth its entry into the European Union, against the political muscle of 1.4 million people of Armenian descent living in the United States.

After pledging during his campaign to support a Congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide - a perennial source of friction between the United States and Turkey - Mr. Obama has kept silent as president.

Mr. Sargsyan of Armenia received a chilly reception when he recently took a weeklong tour to explain the agreement to the diaspora population in the United States, France and Lebanon.

Despite noisy street protests, some influential expatriate groups in the United States - including the Western and Eastern Dioceses of the Armenian Church, the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Knights of Vartan and the Armenian Assembly of America - announced they would back the agreement, in a joint statement that was released Oct. 1.

Mrs. Clinton said much difficult work remained. But on her way to Zurich's airport for a flight to London, she got a phone call from Mr. Obama congratulating her on her role in breaking the impasse.

Looking tired but energized by the experience, Mrs. Clinton said, "It's what you sign up for."

By Mark Landler and Sebnem Arsu, The New York Times, October 10, 2009

ZURICH - U.S. officials are keeping in touch with Mideast leaders in hopes of getting the faltering peace process back on track.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday. She was in Zurich, where Turkey and Armenia signed an accord to establish diplomatic relations.

President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, was heading to Egypt for talks with the foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and the intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman.

Mitchell met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after visiting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly says Mitchell plans to be in Jerusalem on Sunday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ZURICH (AP) - U.S. officials are in keeping in touch with Mideast leaders in hopes of getting the faltering peace process back on track.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday. She was in Zurich, where Turkey and Armenia signed an accord to establish diplomatic relations.

President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, was heading to Egypt for talks with the foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and the intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman.

Mitchell met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after visiting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly says Mitchell plans to be in Jerusalem on Sunday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The Associated Press, October 10, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton departed for Europe late Friday on a five day trip in which Iran, Afghanistan and arms control are expected to be subjects of discussion.

The trip will take her to Switzerland, Britain, Ireland and Russia.

During her visit to Moscow, Clinton plans to press for a strong commitment from Russia for tough new sanctions against Iran.

U.S. officials said Iran will be at or near the top of Clinton's agenda when she meets Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.

Russia and China have long balked at imposing new sanctions on Iran if it fails to come clean about its suspect nuclear program, but Medvedev hinted the Russian position might be shifting after Tehran disclosed a previously secret uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom.

But U.S. officials believe it will be a hard sell to convince the Russians on fresh penalties since Iran agreed to allow U.N. inspectors to visit the Qom site and has agreed, in principle, to send most of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for reprocessing.

Iran agreed to allow inspections of the Qom site following talks last week between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and diplomats from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. The Iranians were given time to decide whether to accept a package of incentives in exchange for Iran's compliance with international demands to suspend its uranium enrichment or face new sanctions.

The Obama administration is anxious not to let up on the pressure and Clinton will be looking for Russian expressions of support for sanctions and other penalties should Iran continue to refuse by the end of the year, the officials said.

"Iran has not bought an indefinite delay and we want them to know that," said one official, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Clinton's talks.

In remarks broadcast Friday, Medvedev said Russia does not want to see any more nations develop nuclear weapons, signaling that Moscow shares U.S. concerns about Iran. But he said nothing about potential sanctions.

"The expansion of the 'nuclear club' is very much not in our interests," Medvedev said in a televised excerpt from an interview taped Wednesday.

In addition to Iran, Clinton will bring a wide array of other issues to Moscow, including arms control, missile defense and cooperation on convincing North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons, the officials said.

Negotiators from the two countries are racing to reach agreement on a successor to START I and Clinton wants to underscore the urgency of the talks, they said.

She also will explore possible cooperation on missile defense following President Barack Obama's decision not to proceed with Bush-administration plans to base such a system in eastern Europe. Russia had vehemently opposed those plans and has welcomed Obama's new approach.

Clinton will also join Lavrov in chairing a meeting of a commission set up by Obama and Medvedev to improve cooperation and coordination on a variety of matters, including Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is likely to dominate Clinton's Sunday visit to London, where support for military operations in the country has waned in recent months amid rising violence and allegations of major fraud in the Afghan national elections in August. Clinton will see British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

In Dublin and Belfast, both of which she visited while she was first lady, Clinton will be pushing to break a deadlock between Northern Ireland's rival Catholic and Protestant leaders over transferring responsibility for Northern Ireland's justice system from British to local hands.

Clinton begins her trip in Zurich, Switzerland on Saturday where she will witness the signing of a historic pact between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations after a century of conflict.

By MATTHEW LEE, The Associated Press, October 9, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero to serve concurrently as Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues.

As Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Under Secretary Otero will coordinate the United State's Government's policies, programs and projects within the context of our bilateral relationship with the People's Republic of China.

Specifically, she will seek to foster an environment that promotes substantive discussion between the Dalai Lama's representatives and the Chinese Government, as well as support initiatives to help safeguard Tibet's unique culture. In the administration of President George W. Bush, the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs also concurrently served as the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues.

The United States recognizes the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan Autonomous prefectures and counties in other provinces to be part of the People's Republic of China. This long-standing policy is consistent with the view of the international community. In addition, the Dalai Lama has expressly disclaimed any intention to seek sovereignty or independence for Tibet and has stated that his goal is greater autonomy for Tibetans in China.

In public statements and in diplomatic channels the United States continues to press both sides to open a dialogue without preconditions as the best way to resolve longstanding issues and achieve true and lasting stability in Tibet.

Just as the United States maintains contact with representatives of a wide variety of groups and individuals inside and outside of China, senior U.S. officials have regularly met with the Dalai Lama in his capacity as an important religious leader and Nobel laureate. Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Barack Obama and Under Secretary Otero met with the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India in September.

The United States has consistently urged China to respect the unique religious, linguistic, and cultural heritage of its Tibetan people and to fully respect their human rights and civil liberties.





Voice of America, October 7, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's top defense and diplomacy advisers said the United States retains the Afghanistan war goal that he outlined just two months into his presidency - to sideline al-Qaida - but changing circumstances require a reassessment of how to get there.

A "snap decision" on whether to add more U.S troops would be counterproductive, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

Whatever the president decides, the military will salute, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

"It's important that at the end of the day that the president makes a decision that he believes in," Clinton added.

The question of whether to further escalate the conflict after adding 21,000 U.S. troops earlier this year is a major decision facing Obama and senior administration policy advisers this week.

Obama invited a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to the White House on Tuesday to confer about the war. And Obama will meet twice this week with his national security team.

Divided on Afghanistan, Congress takes up a massive defense spending bill this week even before the president settles on a direction for the war.

Gates appealed Monday for calm amid the intense administration debate over the flagging war, and for time and privacy for the president to come to a decision. Gates' remarks stood as an implicit rebuke of the man he helped install as the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for lobbying in public for additional troops Obama may decide to forgo.

In two separate appearances Monday, Gates made the point that Obama needs elbow room to make strategy decisions about the war - as the internal White House debate goes increasingly public.

"It is important that we take our time to do all we can to get this right," Gates said at an Army conference. "In this process, it is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations - civilians and military alike - provide our best advice to the president candidly but privately."

Later, speaking alongside Clinton in an interview taped for CNN, Gates praised McChrystal and said no matter what Obama decides the general will execute it faithfully.

Gates has not said whether he supports McChrystal's recommendation to expand the number of U.S. forces by as much as nearly 60 percent. He is holding that request in his desk drawer while Obama sorts through competing recommendations and theories from some of his most trusted advisers.

During the CNN session, Gates said, "Because of our inability and the inability, frankly, of our allies to put enough troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now."

The fierce Taliban attack that killed eight American soldiers over the weekend added to the pressure. The assault overwhelmed a remote U.S. outpost where American forces have been stretched thin in battling insurgents, underscoring the appeal from the top Afghanistan commander for as many as 40,000 additional forces - and at the same time reminding the nation of the costs of war.

In trying to blunt the impression that the White House and military are at odds, Gates did not name names. But his remarks came days after McChrystal bluntly warned in London that Afghan insurgents are gathering strength. Any plan that falls short of stabilizing Afghanistan "is probably a shortsighted strategy," the general said, and he called openly for additional resources.

That prompted Obama's national security adviser, retired four-star Gen. James Jones, to say Sunday that military advice is best provided "up through the chain of command."

Obama may take weeks to decide whether to add more troops, but the idea of pulling out isn't on the table as a way to deal with a war nearing its ninth year, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

"I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear," Gibbs said.

At issue is whether U.S. forces should continue to focus on fighting the Taliban and securing the Afghan population or shift to more narrowly targeting, with unmanned spy drones and covert operations, al-Qaida terrorists believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Gates and some other advisers appear to favor a middle path. A hybrid strategy could preserve the essential outline of an Afghan counterinsurgency campaign that McChrystal rebuilt this summer from the disarray of nearly eight years of undermanned combat, while expanding the hunt for al-Qaida next door.

The top three U.S. military officials overseeing the war in Afghanistan favor continuing the current fight against the Taliban, and have concluded they need tens of thousands more U.S. troops beyond the 68,000 already there.

Officials across the Obama administration have acknowledged that the Taliban is far stronger now than in recent years, as underscored by the U.S. deaths in Nuristan province.

The fighting Saturday marked the biggest loss of U.S. life in a single Afghan battle in more than a year. It also raised questions about why U.S. troops remained in the remote outposts after McChrystal said he planned to close down isolated strongholds and focus on more heavily populated areas as part of his new strategy to focus on protecting Afghan civilians.

By ANNE GEARAN, The Associated Press, October 6, 2009

Hillary Clinton may not be President yet, but she was president on Wednesday, at the United Nations Security Council. Clinton, presiding over the UN Security Council in a special session addressing violence against women, was quoted to say, "I kind of like being a President," which prompted laughter across the room, and continued with, "So this may go on a little longer than anticipated!" Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had just been introduced by Secretary Clinton, acknowledged her with "Thank you, Madam President."

Clinton engaged President Obama in an unusually long and hotly contested primary battle last year for the Democratic nomination for president. It was assumed that it was "Hillary's year," and the unexpected rise of Barack Obama as the front runner made the contest much more lively than anticipated. Clinton's joking demeanor at the Security Council on Sunday is the first time she has even alluded to the Presidency since suspending her campaign and endorsing Obama last August 2008, and subsequently joining his administration as Secretary of State. Recent rumors say that First Lady Michelle Obama may have "vetoed" the selection of Clinton as vice-president, yet placing her at State arguably gives her much more power, exposure, independence and influence than being second fiddle to a superstar president. Future aspirations aside, Clinton seems happy and well suited to her duties as the State Department, and appears to have put any differences with her former opponent aside thoroughly. President Obama's "team of rivals" is working very well together. Even Vice President Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have frequently referred to Secretary Clinton as Obama's "go to" person on "almost everything."

By Kyle Sennett, Tampa Political Examiner, October 2, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton travels next week to Britain, Ireland and Russia for wide-ranging talks on economic and counterterrorism cooperation and arms control.

The State Department said Friday that Clinton would visit London, Dublin, Belfast and Moscow from Oct. 9-15. The journey marks her first solo trip as America's top diplomat to Britain and her first to Russia.

It comes after diplomats from those countries, the United States, China, France and Germany met this week with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator over its suspect atomic program.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that while in Belfast, Clinton would reaffirm "unwavering U.S. support" for the Northern Ireland peace process. In Moscow, she will be discussing progress on negotiating a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, before it expires on Dec. 5.

Agreement on that is crucial for the U.S. and Russia to keep an eye on one another's nuclear stockpiles and add credibility to their efforts to persuade countries such as Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear programs.

The Associated Press, October 2, 2009

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning sexual violence in war zones, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presiding and appealing for global action to end the scourge.

The U.S.-sponsored measure, passed by a 15-0 vote, creates a special United Nations envoy to coordinate efforts to combat the use of rape as a weapon of war and directs U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to dispatch a team of experts to advise governments on how best to prosecute offenders.

"It is time for all of us to assume our responsibility to go beyond condemning this behavior to taking concrete steps to end it, to make it socially unacceptable, to recognize it is not cultural, it is criminal," Clinton told the council. "We must act now to end this crisis."

Drawing on her experiences from a trip last month to the wartorn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where she met numerous victims of rape and other sexual abuse, Clinton said the United Nations had a special obligation to protect women and children who she said are "war's most vulnerable and violated victims."

"The dehumanizing nature of sexual violence doesn't just harm a single individual or a single family or even a single village or a single group," she said. "It shreds the fabric that weaves us together as human beings."

President Barack Obama applauded the U.N. and its member states "for standing together to confront these despicable acts."

"Today, the United States joins with the international community in sending a simple and unequivocal message: violence against women and children will not be tolerated and must be stopped," he said in a statement issued by the White House.

Obama pledged that his administration "will continue to support the right of all women and girls to live free from fear, and to realize their full potential."

Although the situation is now perhaps most acute in Congo, where an epidemic of rape and other abuses claim an average of 36 women and girl victims a day, rampant sexual violence has also been seen in other conflict zones in Africa, Asia and Europe - from Bosnia to Myanmar.

During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, up to half a million women were raped. Some 60,000 victims were reported during the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s and in Sierra Leone, incidents of war-related sexual violence from 1991 to 2001 numbered about 64,000.

Many of the perpetrators remain unpunished.

The resolution adopted Wednesday says that "ending impunity is essential if a society in conflict or recovering from conflict is to come to terms with past abuses committed against civilians affected by armed conflict and to prevent future such abuses."

In addition to the appointment of a special representative and team of experts, the U.N. resolution calls for the inclusion of women's protection advisers within U.N. peacekeeping missions and the deployment of large numbers of women police and military personnel.

By MATTHEW LEE, The Associated Press, September 30, 2009

Gates says additional sanctions may force an economically squeezed Iran to change its nuclear policy. He questions the value of military strikes.

Reporting from Washington - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday that the severe sanctions the West is threatening against Iran could force a change in the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions, especially since the country is already under severe economic distress.

Speaking as officials from six world powers prepare to meet with Iranian negotiators this week to discuss Tehran's nuclear program, Gates noted that the unemployment rate for Iran's young people is 40%, and asserted that past economic sanctions "are having an impact."

Severe additional sanctions could cause the Iranians to change their policies, Gates said on ABC's "This Week."

Gates played down, as he has in the past, the value of military strikes, saying at most they could only retard Iran's nuclear program by an estimated one to three years.

"The reality is, there is no military option that does anything other than buy time," he said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

Despite international outrage over the disclosure last week that Iran has been building a secret uranium enrichment plant near Qom, contentious debate is expected among world powers over the wisdom and efficacy of further economic sanctions.

The threat of Israeli military strikes on Iran hangs over the discussion of the nuclear program. Gates said U.S. officials are trying to persuade Israel to refrain from military action while the international efforts to negotiate an end to the suspected nuclear weapons program are underway.

"We've obviously been in close touch with them, as our ally and friend, and continue to urge them to let this diplomatic and economic sanctions path play out," he said on CNN.

Iran, meanwhile, announced that it had successfully test-fired short-range missiles during military drills by the Revolutionary Guard, in an apparent show of force ahead of Thursday's talks. And today, state television said the nation had tested medium-range missiles, Reuters reported.

The tests came at the end of weeklong military exercises planned before last week's disclosure of the underground nuclear site.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged Sunday that the sanctions that have been imposed by the United Nations Security Council and individual countries are "leaky."

But she said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that world powers have learned more about how to use sanctions in their recent effort to halt North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

Asked whether Russia, a key player on the Iran issue, would join the effort to impose sanctions despite its economic interests in Iran, Clinton made no promises.

But she said that Russia "has begun to see many more indications that Iran is engaging in threatening behavior" and has been "very supportive" of the international sanctions on North Korea.

Clinton said that in this week's meeting, the burden will be on Iran to prove its assertions that its program is for only peaceful purposes. She said that nothing short of opening up the facilities to inspection would do.





By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2009