TURKISH PRESIDENT TO TRAVEL TO ARMENIA

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
Sept 3 2008
Austria

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – The office of Turkish President Abdullah Gul
says he will attend a football match in Armenia, signalling a thaw
in relations between the two historic foes.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and their joint border
has been closed for years.

Their rivalry stems from Turkey’s opposition to Armenian forces’
occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and from
Armenia’s insistence that the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians under Ottoman rule in the early 20th century be
recognized as genocide.

The Armenian and Turkish national teams will face each other in a
World Cup qualifier on Saturday.