EurasiaNet, NY
Sept 5 2008
ARMENIA, TURKEY PUT DIFFERENCES ASIDE FOR SOCCER
Marianna Grigoryan 9/05/08
A football match could possibly give a kick-start to efforts by
Armenia and Turkey to normalize relations. On September 6, Turkish
President Abdullah Gul will travel to Yerevan to watch a 2010 World
Cup qualifying soccer match between Armenia and Turkey, thus becoming
the first Turkish leader to visit Armenia.
Scheduled to arrive in Yerevan two hours before the game starts at
9.00 pm local time, President Gul is slated to dine with Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan before the two attend the game at Yerevan’s
reconstructed Hrazdan football stadium. Gul will return to Turkey
following the end of the match. Gul’s visit will take place amid high
security, and he will watch the qualifying match from behind
bullet-proof glass.
After months of speculation, confirmation that Gul had accepted
President Sarkisian’s invitation only came on September 3. Opposition
politicians and government officials alike in Yerevan voiced hope that
the football game could create a long-awaited diplomatic breakthrough
in relations, which have been marked by enmity since Armenia gained
independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse. Turkey closed its border
with Armenia and broke off diplomatic ties following Armenia’s
1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan, a strong Turkish ally, over the
breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The visit of the Turkish president is the most important political
event for Armenia," commented senior Republic Party member Suren
Sureniants. "The visit will have an indirect influence not only on our
foreign, but also on domestic policy and will lead to the start of new
relations."
As a sign of that outlook, the opposition movement led by ex-President
Levon Ter-Petrosian postponed for a week a rally that had been planned
for September 5 in Yerevan. "We should establish normal,
good-neighborly relations with Turkey without preconditions,"
Ter-Petrosian said at a recent press conference. "When I said this
[earlier], they would say what treachery it is. And now, they keep
repeating it night and day," he said in reference to government
officials. Not all Armenian politicians feel the same, however. The
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun), a traditional
nationalist party, has vowed to mount protests against Gul’s
visit. Similar demonstrations have been threatened in Turkey, too.
Centrist Turkish media outlets have been generally supportive of Gul’s
pending visit. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan — a close Turkish ally, as well
as a bitter enemy of Armenia — has given its official blessing to the
trip. On September 4, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that
Azerbaijani leaders "welcome this initiative positively," the Turkish
daily Hurriyet reported.
A September 3 statement from Gul’s office noted that the Turkish
president had accepted Sarkisian’s invitation to "create a new climate
of friendship in the region" and to "lift the obstacles preventing the
coming together of two peoples who share a common history."
The statement echoes sentiments expressed by Sargsyan, who in a July 8
Wall St. Journal commentary, entitled "We Are Ready to Talk to
Turkey," expressed a desire for "a new phase of dialogue with the
government and people of Turkey, with the goal of normalizing
relations and opening our common border."
Although officials in both countries seem eager to explore a
rapprochement, there are many on both sides who remain
suspicious. Ruben Safrastian, director of the Institute of Oriental
Studies at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, is among the
skeptics in Yerevan who do not believe the visit will live up to its
hype. Safrastian argues that Turkey is not prepared to deviate
dramatically from its current policy on Armenia. Gul’s last-minute
decision to accept Sarkisian’s invitation was more likely dictated
both by regional tensions linked to Russia’s war with Georgia, and by
an upcoming debate in the US Congress about Ottoman Turkey’s 1915
slaughter of thousands of ethnic Armenians, Safrastian suggested.
"There may be some small change that will result in some thaw between
the two countries, however, Gul will try to use the visit to
strengthen his positions in the region," Safrastian said. "The Turks
will use this visit to prove their goodwill. However, in reality, they
will do everything to use it in their interest."
As for the actual football qualifying match, coaches and players are
not trying to allow politics to intrude on the competition. "We
footballers think quickly and we like to play quickly. But it would
slow us down if we tried to take history’s weight on our
shoulders. That would ruin our game," the Turkish Daily News quoted
Turkey’s head coach, Fatih Terim as saying. Added Armenia’s head
coach, Jan Poulsen, a longtime Danish soccer manager, at a September 4
press conference: "We are in a good form at this moment. We feel
determined and will do our best."
Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the ArmeniaNow.com
weekly in Yerevan.