Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (R) meets his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during a meeting in Yerevan Sept. 6, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Armenian and Turkish top diplomats have expressed will to normalize bilateral relations that were damned by "massacres" allegations in the first half of last century, according to reports reaching here on Friday.

    Armenian Foreign Ministers Edvard Nalbandyan and his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan expressed determination to full-fledged normalization of bilateral relations during their two-hour talks late on Saturday in Yerevan, Itar-Tass said.

    Nalbandyan confirmed Armenia's readiness to establish relations with Turkey without any preconditions, considering Turkish President Abdullah Gul's visit earlier that day a serious impulse in this direction.

    The two diplomats also discussed Turkey's initiative to create a platform for the stability and security in the Caucasus, Itar-Tass reported.

    Gul held talks with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian in Yerevan during his first visit to the Caucasus state, which was widely seen as an opportunity to help thaw the frozen ties between the two countries.

    Armenia has claimed that up to 1.5 million Armenians died as a result of "massacres" during the Turkish Ottoman period between 1915 and 1923, but Turkey categorically rejects the accusation, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

    In 1993, Ankara also closed their land border in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, a Turkic-speaking ally which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

    Though Turkey recognized the state of Armenia soon after its independence, there have been no formal diplomatic ties between them currently.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (R) meets his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during a meeting in Yerevan Sept. 6, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>