TURKISH PRESIDENT’S HISTORIC VISIT TO ARMENIA SHARPLY CRITICISED

Focus News
Sept 4 2008
Bulgaria

Ankara. President Abdullah Gul on Saturday becomes Turkey’s first head
of state to visit Armenia, but his bid to ease decades of hostility
over massacres under the Ottoman empire angered Turkish nationalists,
AFP informed.

Gul will go to Yerevan to attend a football match between the two
countries, which do not have diplomatic relations and remain deeply
divided over Armenia’s international campaign to have the massacres
classified as "genocide".

"A visit around this match can create a new climate of friendship in
the region," the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

"It’s with this in mind that the president has accepted the
invitation."

The two countries will face off in a qualifying match for the 2010
World Cup finals and Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian invited Gul
last month to attend.