Protests have been held particularly by the Armenian disapora concerning the accords [AFP]

The signing is scheduled for Saturday in the Swiss city of Zurich.

However, protests have been held by Armenians, many of whom believe that Ankara should recognise the mass killing of Armenians by Ottomans during the first world war as genocide.

The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu, the respective Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers, would take part in the ceremony.

"The signing ceremony for protocols between the republic of Armenia and the republic of Turkey will occur tomorrow [Saturday] in Zurich," the Swiss foreign ministry announced.

The signing is the culmination of more than a year of Swiss-mediated talks.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state; Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister; and Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minster, are among those due to attend the signing of accords as a show of support.

Nationalist opposition

The protocols would still need ratification by their respective parliaments after being signed.

That endorsement will have to come as nationalists on both sides protest the accords, particularly an Armenian diaspora which is demanding that Turkey acknowledge the killings of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide.

Turkey has disputed the claims of genocide, with support from the US and UK, saying that the real death toll is lower.

Many Turks see the fighting as a civil war caused by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during which an unverifiable number of Turks also died - although both sides agree that more Armenians than Turks were killed.

Both governments have majorities in parliament but are expected to hold back on immediately ratifying the protocols due to the opposition.

Styopa Safaryan, an Armenian MP for the opposition Heritage Party, said: "At the very beginning, we welcomed this process, hoping that it will bring together Armenian and Turkish sides to provide an open and honest conversation on contemporary and historic issues.

"But after the disclosure of the signed protocols after August 31, we were surprised to see that non-directly, Turkish pre-conditions were on the table ... [Yet] there are no Armenian preconditions.

"That is why yesterday we had a huge demonstration in Armenia. People marched to the memorial of the Armenian genocide. People said no to protocol."

The move is expected to help Ankara in its bid to join the EU, while Armenia may benefit from closer ties to the West and greater economic openness with Turkey.

The issue of the disputed enclave of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorny-Karabakh also complicates the situation.

The enclave broke away from Azerbaijan after a war in the early 1990s, with Turkey closing its borders with Armenia in support of Azerbaijan in 1993.

"Constructive" talks were held between the Armenian and Azerbaijan presidents were held this week however, the former's office said on Friday.

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