GUL’S YEREVAN VISIT WELCOMED BY ALL BUT EXTREMISTS, OPPOSITION

Today’s Zaman
Sept 4 2008
Turkey

A considerable number of columnists in the mainstream Turkish media
have welcomed a probable visit on Saturday by President Abdullah
Gul to Yerevan at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart, Serzh
Sarksyan, to watch the World Cup qualifying game between the two
countries’ national soccer teams, while extremist newspapers and
opposition parties openly criticized the visit, saying it would harm
Turkey’s image.

Yet, without any direct references to it, the visit has also gained
backing from Turkey’s NATO ally, the United States.

The White House, commenting on a telephone conversation between US
President George W. Bush and Gul, touched upon the recent thaw in
relations between the two estranged neighbors.

The main focus of the conversation between Gul and Bush was Georgia
and the Caucasus in general. The two underlined the importance of
full compliance with a six-point European Union-brokered cease-fire
agreement, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the US’s National Security
Council, said on Tuesday. "The two leaders also talked about their
support for efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations and the
growing Turkish-Iraqi relationship," Johndroe said.

In Ankara, the Cankaya presidential palace said Gul had informed Bush
about Ankara’s initiative for establishing a Caucasus Stability and
Cooperation Platform. Proposed as a mechanism to develop conflict
resolution methods among the Caucasus countries, the platform is
planned to be made up of Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia.

In Yerevan, Ambassador Unal Ceviköz, the deputy undersecretary of the
Foreign Ministry, met Sarksyan and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian to discuss arrangements for Gul’s visit, according to the
Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Almost all Turkish dailies yesterday covered the issue — some
with news articles and some in columns. The Sabah daily quoted
Turkish national team coach Fatih Terim as saying, "This is just a
football match, not a war," while the ultra-secularist Cumhuriyet
daily preferred to quote a retired ambassador as saying it is the
"wrong timing for a visit."

Pro-business Hurriyet on its front page covered a call by the Turkish
Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TUSÄ°AD) encouraging Gul
to pay the expected visit, while Star daily quoted Samson Ozararat,
who in the 1990s arranged a meeting between the late Alpaslan TurkeÅ~_
and former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian. "It will be a big
step even if they just sit and watch the match," Ozararat was quoted
as saying by Star.

Mustafa Karaalioglu, editor-in-chief of Star daily, wrote in his
column yesterday that Gul’s apparent decision to go to Yerevan is
"an appropriate and delayed decision."

Turkey should get rid of its taboos, both inside and outside of the
country, Karaalioglu wrote in his column, the title of which said
"Gul must go … just as Sezer, Demirel and Ozal should have gone,"
listing names of former presidents and saying such a move should have
come much earlier than now.

In Yerevan, Ter-Petrosian, now top leader of the Armenian National
Congress (HAK), which is the country’s main opposition force, said
he would welcome Gul’s visit. Ter-Petrosian, who has long championed
a Turkey-Armenia rapprochement, said the match offered a good reason
for thawing bilateral relations. Meanwhile, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) rallied several thousand supporters in
Yerevan on Tuesday to oppose the visit and pledged to hold more such
demonstrations during Gul’s expected visit.

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