TURKISH PRESIDENT TO MAKE HISTORIC VISIT TO ARMENIA
ABC Online
Sept 4 2008
Australia
President Abdullah Gul will become the first Turkish head of state
to visit Armenia on Saturday, and Ankara hopes his trip to attend a
football match will heal old wounds over the massacre of Armenians
by Turkish forces.
Mr Gul goes to Yerevan to watch a 2010 World Cup qualifying match
with counterpart Serge Sarkissian at the latter’s invitation, the
Turkish presidency said.
"A visit around this match can create a new climate of friendship
in the region," said a statement by the Turkish presidency posted on
its website.
"It’s with this in mind that the President has accepted the invitation.
"This match could lift the obstacles blocking the coming together
of two peoples who share a common history and can create a new
foundation," it said.
The presidency added that it hopes the visit means "an opportunity
for a better mutual understanding."
Mr Gul’s trip represents a key step towards ending almost a century
of animosity over the massacre of Armenians under the Turkish Ottoman
empire.
Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
since it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The key reason is Yerevan’s campaign for the deaths of Armenian
civilians in 1915-1917 to be classified as genocide.
Armenia says up to 1.5 million people were killed in orchestrated
massacres during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell apart before
being dismantled in 1920.