TURKISH PRESIDENT TO ATTEND SOCCER MATCH IN ARMENIA
CNN International
Sept 4 2008
(CNN) — Turkish President Abdullah Gul will travel Saturday to
Armenia to watch a World Cup soccer qualifying match between the two
countries — a move promoted as a step toward bolstering relations
between neighbor nations with a long history of animosity.
"We believe such visit will contribute to the creation of a warmer
friendship climate in the region," said a statement from Gul’s
office, which added Armenian President Serj Sarkisyan extended the
invitation. "Our president has accepted the invitation with this
understanding," it said.
"It is also hoped this visit will offer the opportunity for the
citizens of two nations to understand each other better."
Gul would be the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia, which
was a Soviet republic until 1991, in an official capacity.
The neighboring nations in the Caucasus region, straddling Europe
and the Middle East, have no official diplomatic relations and their
shared border has has been closed since 1993.
Much of the animosity stems from mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks during World War I.
Armenians call the killings genocide. Historians estimate about 1.5
million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor
to modern Turkey — during the war.
Turkey, which is now a secular and democratic Muslim nation, calls
the killings part of the natural course of war, says far fewer than
1.5 million Armenians were killed and says a comparable number of
Turks died in the conflict.
Last year, members of the U.S. House of Representatives sponsored
a resolution that would have declared the killings an act of
genocide. But, under pressure from the Bush administration, House
leaders dropped plans for a vote.
The administration was trying to persuade Turkey not to launch
cross-border raids into Iraq against Kurdish rebels and Turkey had
threatened to curtail U.S. access to military bases used to support
U.S. troops in Iraq if the resolution had passed.
In 2005, Turkey moved away from its historical position of blanket
denial — calling for an "open investigation" by scholars from both
countries into the genocide allegations. The Armenian government has
declined to take part, calling it a political maneuver.
When the soccer match was announced last year — the first time the
two nations have played each other in soccer at the highest level —
questions were raised as to whether tensions would be too high for
the game to be played as planned.
But political and sports leaders from both nations quickly moved to
play down the political implications of the match, in which Turkey
is heavily favored.
"You cannot play a game thinking about those things," Turkish coach
Fatih Terim told the Turkish Daily News. "We cannot carry the weight
of history on our shoulders."