TURKISH PRESIDENT TO VISIT ARMENIA
RTT News
Sept 3 2008
NY
(RTTNews) – Turkish President Abdullah Gul is to travel to Armenia
to watch a weekend soccer match between the national teams of the
two countries, said a statement issued by his office on Wednesday.
According to the statement, President Gul will attended the World Cup
qualifier match between the football teams of the two countries in the
Armenian capital of Yerevan on Saturday, along with his counterpart
Serge Sarkisian.
The statement also expressed hope that Gul’s visit to Armenia would
improve the relations between the two neighboring countries by
promoting better understanding and friendship.
This announcement marks a historic move as both countries have cut
off official ties and closed their mutual border to each other after
the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally, in the 1990s.
Moreover, the Turks had rejected an Armenian demand to classify the
killings of some 1.5m of its citizens by Ottoman Turks between 1915
and 1917 as genocide, sparking the diplomatic tussle.
Turkey acknowledges that that many Armenians were killed by Turks
between 1915 and 1917, but maintains that the deaths were a part of
World War I.