TURKEY TO KICK OFF ‘FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY’
Thomas Seibert

The National
Sept 5 2008
United Arab Emirates

GMT ISTANBUL // Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president, is about to make
history by travelling to Armenia for a football match, thus becoming
the first Turkish head of state to visit the neighbour despite the
two countries’ continued disagreement over the deaths of up to 1.5
million Anatolian-Armenians almost 100 years ago.

Accepting an invitation by Serzh Sarkisian, his Armenian counterpart,
Mr Gul, who will arrive in Yerevan tomorrow to see the first contest
between Turkey and Armenia in a World Cup qualifying match, is
hoping the game will contribute to a "new climate of friendship in
the region", his office said in a statement.

In Istanbul, Alen Markaryan, a Turkish football fan of Armenian
descent, agreed. "This match could be a first step to overcoming
the coldness between the two countries," said Mr Markaryan, 42,
who heads Carsi, a fan club of Besiktas, one of Istanbul’s biggest
football clubs.

The match will be the first meeting between the top teams of the two
neighbouring countries that have no diplomatic relations and whose
common border is closed.

Mr Markaryan said he was looking forward to the beginning of a process
of reconciliation. "We all hope for the start of better relations,"
he said. He compared Turkey’s relationship to Armenia with those
to Greece, another traditional enemy with whom Ankara has begun to
build new bridges in recent years. "It was the same with Greece,
but the wall is crumbling," Mr Markaryan said.

Fatih Terim, Turkey’s national football coach, also hoped the match
could contribute to better relations between the two countries,
but said politics should be left to politicians. "If you think about
political problems and about historical accusations, you will not be
able to prepare for any match," he said.

Armenia has lifted visa restrictions for Turks to attract as many
Turkish fans as possible.

Turkey and Armenia are separated by history as well as by modern
conflicts. Armenia says up to 1.5 million Anatolian-Armenians died in
massacres and death marches that started in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire,
in what Armenians say was genocide by the Turks directed against a
Christian minority. Turkey puts the number of victims much lower and
says the deaths were caused by unrest and wartime conditions that
also killed many Muslim Turks.

The bilateral relationship became more difficult in the early 1990s,
when Turkey backed Azerbaijan in the war against Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

Still, the two countries had to make a new start, Mr Markaryan said. "I
hope that the two peoples get rid of their prejudices," he said.

Many of the 80,000 Armenians who live in Turkey today complain about
discrimination and say they are afraid of Turkish nationalists,
especially after a young extremist shot Hrant Dink, an Armenian
journalist, in Istanbul last year.

Carsi, the fan club run by Mr Markaryan, made headlines after
the murder by expressing its solidarity with Mr Dink. "We are all
Armenians," read a sign unfolded by Carsi members in the Besiktas
stadium. The club also supported black football players who had become
victims of racial abuse.

Mr Markaryan said he saw no problems between ordinary Turks and
Armenians, but that politicians had played up the differences. He
said he was the best example for normality – an Armenian who leads
a football fan club in Turkey.

The Turkish-Armenian "football diplomacy", which has been compared
in the Turkish press to the "ping-pong diplomacy" that led to better
relations between the US and China in the 1970s, could provide a chance
to break the deadlock, but also carries political risks for Ankara.

A visit by Mr Gul to Yerevan may not go down well in Azerbaijan,
Turkey’s ally that continues to live in a state of war with Armenia
over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mr Gul’s trip to Yerevan may also jeopardise the president’s standing
in his own country, said Can Fuat Gurlesel, the head of the Institute
for Strategic Studies, a think tank in Istanbul. "A gesture like that
will be seen positively abroad, but it will be dangerous domestically",
as Armenia had not made it clear yet that it accepts the border,
he said.

Ever since Mr Sarkisian invited Mr Gul to Yerevan, media and
politicians in Turkey have been debating if the president should go.

Many newspaper columnists, business organisations and some
pro-democracy groups had called on Mr Gul to travel to Yerevan. But
opposition politicians say the trip will send the wrong signal.

According to Mr Markaryan, who will not go to Yerevan tomorrow,
the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement should not be limited to
football. Turkey should open its border with Armenia for trade in
order to help the landlocked neighbour, he said. "Armenia is a weak
and poor country."

As for tomorrow’s match, Mr Markaryan predicted a Turkish victory,
but not a towering one. "There won’t be many goals," he said. "The
match is going to be heated."