Turkey’s Gul makes landmark Armenia visit
Reuters,
Guardian/UK
Saturday September 6 2008
By Paul de Bendern
YEREVAN, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Turkish President Abdullah Gul flew into
neighbouring Armenia on Saturday to attend a soccer match he said could
help end almost a century of mutual hostility and aid security in the
broader Caucasus region.
Attack helicopters escorted Gul’s jet on its arrival, and police and
demonstrators lined the traffic-free streets as his motorcade sped
through downtown Yerevan.
Gul is the first Turkish leader to visit Armenia. Ankara and Yerevan
have no diplomatic ties but a relationship haunted by the question of
whether ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks during World War One
were victims of systematic genocide.
Gul was invited to attend Saturday’s match at the Hrazdan stadium by
his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarksyan, who called for closer ties in
a region rocked last month by Russia’s war with Georgia. The brief
conflict raised fears for the security of energy supplies from the
Caspian Sea to western Europe.
Departing Ankara, Gul said he hoped the first match between the two
national sides would aid a "rapprochement".
"This match is important beyond being the first match between the
Turkish and Armenian national teams," Gul told a news conference. "It
has a significance that will present important opportunities."
"I hope today’s match will contribute to removing barriers to the
rapprochement of two peoples with a common history, and contribute to
regional peace and stability."
Turkey has never opened an embassy in Armenia and in 1993 Ankara closed
their land border in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, a
Turkic-speaking ally which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
But Russia’s decision last month to send its forces into Georgia, an
ex-Soviet state which borders both Armenia and Turkey, has convinced
many that it is time for Ankara and Yerevan to put their differences
aside.
SOCCER SYMBOLISM
"We saw a month ago how unresolved issues in the Caucasus threaten
peace in the region," Gul said. "Making this trip at such a time makes
it especially important."
Talking to reporters on the plane, Gul praised Sarksyan’s "brave"
decision to invite him to the game, and said he hoped it would create a
climate for future dialogue.
In Yerevan, streets around the stadium and the presidential office were
closed to traffic. The nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party said it would
protest against the visit, demanding Turkey recognise the World War One
killings as genocide.
Activists lining the streets held banners that read: "1915 – Never
Again", and "We Demand Justice".
Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
Armenians accuse Turkey of genocide, but Ankara says Turks and
Armenians alike were killed in partisan warfare.
If they can move beyond the soccer symbolism to re-establish normal
relations, it could have huge significance for Turkey’s role as a
regional power, for energy flows from the Caspian Sea and for Western
influence in the South Caucasus.
Landlocked Armenia, a Soviet republic until 1991, could also derive
enormous benefits from the opening of the frontier with its large
neighbour and the restoration of a key rail link.
Western-backed pipelines shipping oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to
Turkey’s Mediterranean coast bypass Armenia and bend north instead to
go through Georgia.
With that route looking vulnerable after the Russian intervention,
Armenia could be an attractive alternative route.
For a blog, click on:
h-armenian-soccer-diplomacy/