The Age, Australia
Sept 6 2008

Match kicks off Turkish and Armenian peace moves

Robert Tait, Yerevan
September 6, 2008

THE first tentative steps towards healing generations of bitterness
between Turkey and Armenia will take place in a football stadium in
Yerevan today when the nations meet in a World Cup qualifier watched
by their respective presidents.

In what has been termed "football diplomacy", Turkey’s President,
Abdullah Gul, will attend the match at the invitation of his Armenian
counterpart, Serge Sarkisian, in an attempt to establish relations
between two neighbours who do not have diplomatic ties.

An estimated 5000 Turkish fans are expected in Yerevan, Armenia’s
capital, after authorities waived normal visa controls in a goodwill
gesture. Their presence has provoked fears of clashes with Armenian
nationalists, who have vowed to demonstrate against the first visit to
Armenia by a modern Turkish head of state.

Mr Gul confirmed only on Wednesday that he would make the trip. A
statement from his office said the occasion had "meaning beyond being
just a sporting event ¦ The match will be an opportunity to overcome
obstacles and prepare a new ground to bring the two people together."

The presidents are expected to watch side-by-side after discussions
onissues that evoke emotion, mistrust and vast differences in
perception.

Ankara and Yerevan have long been at odds over Turkey’s refusal to
accept as genocide the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the
hands of Ottoman troops during the First World War. Turkey insists far
fewer died and many deaths were caused by starvation and disease, but
proposes a joint historical commission to examine the issue.

Despite that longstanding disagreement, Turkey was among the first
countries to recognise Armenia’s independence after the collapse of
the Soviet Union in 1991. But formal relations were subsequently
frozen when Armenia occupied the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
following a war with Azerbaijan, Turkey’s close ally.

Opposition politicians urged Mr Gul not to accept the invitation, but
the Government supports rapprochement with Armenia as part of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proposal for a Caucasus stability
pact, following the recent clash between Russia and Georgia.

Mensur Akgun, foreign policy program director of Tesev, a Turkish
think tank, said the visit could be productive. "There may be some
progress on the joint commission to see if it was really genocide
under the 1948 UN definition, meaning we will be able to face our own
history, which is obviously really good for a democracy," he
said. "With respect to Turkey’s international relations there is a lot
to be gained."

Alexander Iskandarian, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan,
said normalised relations with Turkey would provide landlocked Armenia
with a direct pathway to Europe.

"At the moment we have open borders with just two of our neighbours,
Georgia and Iran," he said. "It costs us the same to import one
kilogram of goods from Europe as it does from Australia, yet most of
our trade is with Europe. Open borders with Turkey would be very
important to us."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress