ZURICH: The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Eduard Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu, have signed the widely-opposed Protocols to normalise relations, overcoming an unexpected delay caused by a "last minute hitch".

The two parties reportedly disagreed on the wording of one another's post-signing speeches, in which Nalbandian was to refer to the Armenian Genocide and Davutoglu to Azerbaijan's rights to Armenian enclave Nagorno Karabakh - the two most-contentious issues dividing the Caucasus neighbours.

Nalbandian did not turn up to the signing ceremony on time, but after the efforts of foreign diplomats, believed to be led by United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the deal was rescued and signed three hours later than initially planned.

In the last week, over 100,000 Armenians in Yerevan, New York, Los Angeles, Beirut, Paris, Buenos Aires and Sydney have protested against the Protocols.

Despite being advertised by both parties as containing "no preconditions", the Protocols to re-establish diplomatic relations between the Caucasus neighbours contained points which experts said will harm the century-old battle by Armenians to have the Genocide of over 1.5million of their ancestors recognised and adjudicated. Experts said the Protocols also cast into doubt the right to self-determination for the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.

The signing of these Protocols in the face of such widespread concern and opposition is sure to attract reactions from members of the Armenian community within Armenia and in the Diaspora in coming days.