President Barack Obama is in a bind as a congressional panel prepares to vote next week on a resolution that would recognize as genocide the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark agreement on Saturday to establish diplomatic relations and open their sealed border after a century of enmity, as US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-minute snag.

Turkey and Armenia plan to sign an agreement on Saturday establishing diplomatic ties in hopes of ending a century of acrimony over their bloody past and reopening their border, but nationalists on both sides are seeking to derail its implementation.

Turkey and Armenia will sign landmark deals at the weekend to normalize ties poisoned by their shared bloody history, Russia said on Thursday as the main parties kept mum on the timing of the ceremony.

The leaders of bitter ex-Soviet foes Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday called for a peaceful resolution of their dispute over the Nagorny Karabakh region after peace talks near Moscow.