Turkish officials say the country will soon establish diplomatic ties with Armenia after decades of cold relations.

Officials said Sunday that an agreement on establishing ties will be signed October 10 by the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers.

The deal, reached after months of negotiations, also calls for the reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border.  The agreement must be approved by the parliaments of both countries.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have long been strained by the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people died in what they call a genocide.  Turkey strongly rejects that label and says the death toll is inflated.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists in its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP.