Armenian protesters denounce deal on Turkey ties

Several thousand Armenians took to the streets of the capital Yerevan on Friday to protest against the government's plans to sign a landmark deal on normalising ties with Turkey.

Carrying placards reading "No Concessions to the Turks," the protesters were marching from central Yerevan to a hilltop memorial to World War I-era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule, an AFP reporter saw.

Armenia and Turkey are expected to sign two landmark protocols Saturday to normalise ties and reopen their border, in a major step towards ending nearly a century of hostility over the massacres.

In a statement handed over to Armenia's presidency, the protesters urged President Serzh Sarkisian not to sign the deal.

"These protocols contain some very dangerous points for our nation and for our state, which threaten our interests," the statement said. The protesters said Sarkisian would "be held responsible for the unpredictable consequences" if the deal is signed.

The protests were organised by a coalition of opposition parties, including the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), which quit the ruling coalition earlier this year over the reconciliation efforts with Turkey.

After they are signed, the protocols will still need to be ratified by the two countries' parliaments. Despite some vocal opposition, Armenia's ruling coalition has backed the protocols, making their approval by the country's national assembly almost a guarantee.

Turkey has long refused to establish ties with Armenia over Yerevan's international campaign to have the early 20th-century massacres recognised as genocide, a label Ankara categorically rejects.

Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan's backing of ethnic Armenian separatists in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region.