GUL STILL UNDECIDED ON ARMENIA SOCCER MATCH

Gibrahayer
July 08

KARS (ArmRadio)–Turkish President Abdullah Gul was in Kars on
Wednesday where he said that he has yet to decide whether or not he
will accept President Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation to come to Yerevan
in September to watch the Turkish and Armenian national soccer teams
compete in a World Cup qualifier match, Mediamax news agency reported.

Gul’s statement came in response to questions asked by Armenian
Reporter and Aztag Daily Correspondent Tatoul Hagopian following
Gul’s meeting at Kars’s City Hall. Gul was in Kars Wednesday for the
groundbreaking ceremony of the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars
railroad.

"I, first and foremost, thanked Armenia’s president for the invitation,
but we still have not made a decision," Gul said. "Our policy is
clear. We seek to establish friendly relations and cooperation between
all the countries in the region."

"The existing issues need to be solved," he said, adding that Turkey
wishes to see stability in region.

But stability in the region is impossible when neighbours speak to
neighbours through ultimatums, ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Supreme Council
of Armenia Representative Armen Rustamian told reporters Wednesday
during a press conference at Armenia’s National Press Club.

"Turkey’s preconditions for the normalisation of relations with Armenia
are ultimatums and are unacceptable to the Republic of Armenia and
the ARF," he said. "It is very dangerous if the Genocide becomes a
subject of debate in this regard."

"We must not allow Turkey to create an illusion about the existence of
relations [with Armenia]," he told journalists. "If Turkey’s president
comes to Armenia, Dashnaktsoutiun …will say that a neighbour does
not speak in ultimatums with a neighbour."

According to Rustamian, this is not an issue of the past. It is an
issue of the future and is of direct concern to t he national security
of the country.

If Turkey wishes to normalise relations with Armenia, then it must
take steps in line with international standards, Rustamian remarked.