RFE/RL -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will keep its border with Armenia closed if a territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains unresolved.

Erdogan was quoted today by the Anatolia news agency as saying that "if the occupation of (Nagorno Karabakh) continues, we will not take such a step."

The reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border is part of an accord the two countries signed in October to establish diplomatic ties and needs parliamentary ratification to take effect.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan after ethnic Armenian separatists, backed by Yerevan, seized the Nagorno Karabakh region.