Armenia rejects Turkish demand on rebel region

By Matt Robinson and Margarita Antidze

YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia's foreign minister has rejected Turkish calls for concessions in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in exchange for the historic rapprochement between Yerevan and Ankara.

Speaking to Reuters late on Friday, Edward Nalbandian said negotiations between Turkey and Armenia were over and both sides were obliged to move quickly to establish diplomatic relations and open their border under accords signed this month.

Turkish leaders say they want to see progress in negotiations between Armenia and Turkish ally Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh before parliament in Ankara ratifies the accords, a link Armenia rejects.

"Why did we sign two protocols if we are not going to ratify and implement them?" Nalbandian, 53, said in an interview in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

"I think the whole international community is waiting for quick ratification and implementation and respect for the agreements which are in the protocols," he said, speaking in English.

"If one of the sides will delay and create some obstacles in the way of ratification and implementation, I think it could bear all the responsibility for the negative consequences."

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with fellow Muslim Azerbaijan in its war with Armenian-backed ethnic Armenians in the mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Former Soviet Armenia and NATO-member Turkey have no diplomatic ties, but a relationship haunted by the World War One killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, a defining element of Armenian national identity.