Turkey's prime minister said Sunday the opening of the country's border with Armenia would be tied to progress on the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region, a day after the two nations signed landmark deals. “We want all the borders to be opened at the same time ...,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting of officials from his party. “But as long as Armenia has not withdrawn from Azerbaijani territory that it is occupying, Turkey cannot have a positive attitude on this subject.” Turkey and Armenia signed deals on Saturday to normalise relations and open their shared border after decades of hostility. A long-running dispute over Nagorny-Karabakh – an Armenian-majority enclave which broke free from Turkish-backed Azerbaijan after a war – has been one of the stumbling blocks toward reconciliation between the two countries. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to support Azerbaijan and the Turkish government has been accused at home of making concessions to Armenia that would sell out Azerbaijan. __
