DECISION ON TURK-ARMENIA GAME RESTS ON DEVELOPMENTS

Hurriyet
July 16 2008
Turkey

Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s attendance at a soccer match
in Armenia will depend on developments that occur between the two
countries between now and the match date, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan
said in a televised interview on Wednesday.

"Such participation would depend on the developments between today
and the match date," Babacan told NTV.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has invited Gul to visit Yerevan
for a soccer match in September, marking "a new start" in relations
between the two states. Turkey is due to play Armenia in a World Cup
qualifier on Sept 6.

"Until now we, as Turkey, took unilateral steps… This (match
invitation) is the result of the one-sided steps we took," Babacan
said.

Turkey is among the first countries that recognized Armenia when it
declared its independency. However there is no diplomatic relations
between two countries, as Armenia presses the international community
to admit the so-called "genocide" claims instead of accepting Turkey’s
call to investigate the allegations, and its invasion of 20 percent
of Azerbaijani territory despite the U.N. Security Council resolutions
on the issue.

Babacan also warned that any decision of Washington to accept
the so-called "genocide" claims would "greatly harm bilateral
relations". U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama had declared if
elected, his administration would accept the claims to woo Armenian
voters.

"This is why a thorough assessment needs to made. Such a decision
could lead to serious and negative consequences…We have seen this
in the previous campaign terms. Their approach to issues during the
campaign term differs from that shown after the elections," he added
when asked about Obama’s view on the 1915 incidents.

Armenia, with the backing of the Diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey
rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least
as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when the Armenians
took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.