New York Times, NY
Sept 6 2008
Turkey’s President Visits Armenia
By SEBNEM ARSU
Published: September 6, 2008
ISTANBUL ‘ Turkey’s president arrived in Armenia on Saturday, the
first visit by a Turkish leader in the two nations’ history.
The president, Abdullah Gul, was invited by the Armenian president,
Serge Sargsyan, to attend a soccer game in Yerevan, the capital,
between the national teams.
The trip was widely seen as a symbolic gesture to normalize relations
between the countries, which have recognized each other but have not
established diplomatic relations.
The two nations have deeply held disagreements about what is widely
referred to as the Armenian genocide, in which more than one million
Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Army in the early 1900s.
Many Western countries support the genocide designation, but the
official narrative in Turkey is that both Turks and Armenians were
killed in warfare as the Ottoman Empire dissolved.
The issue remains taboo in Turkey; many writers and intellectuals,
including the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced criminal charges
for discussing the events that began in 1915.
The ruling Justice and Development Party of Mr. Gul has proposed,
however, that foreign scholars be allowed to study Ottoman archives to
look into the Armenian claims.
Mr. Gul accepted the invitation to visit Armenia despite heavy public
opposition in each nation. He said that attending the soccer game, a
World Cup qualifying match, was an opportunity to improve ties.
Security was heavy around the stadium in Yerevan, and protesters lined
the streets along his motorcade’s route.
`I hope today’s match will help lift the barriers to closer relations
between two nations that share a common history, and contribute to the
establishment of regional friendship and peace,’ Mr. Gul said at a
news conference before his departure for Yerevan.
After a new government was elected in Armenia this year, relations
between the countries improved; several meetings were held between
Foreign Ministry officials on the two sides.
`Although I cannot go into details, some consensus was reached for the
normalization of bilateral relations,’ said a Turkish Foreign Ministry
official who asked not to be identified, under normal diplomatic
rules.
`Expectations should not be hyped, but the visit is clearly a goodwill
gesture from Turkey,’ the official said.
Russia’s military actions in Georgia, which borders Armenia and
Turkey, have also fostered the rapprochement.
In response to the conflict, Turkey formed a Caucasus Stability and
Cooperation Platform to encourage political and economic links with
five neighboring countries, including Armenia.
On Saturday, Mr. Sargsyan said Armenia and Turkey would work together
to solve regional conflicts. `We are going to resolve the issues and
not pass them on to next generations,’ he said.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 after Armenia occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan, Turkey’s close ally and
energy provider in the region. The border remains closed, and economic
and trade ties are scant.
The main opposition party in Turkey condemned Mr. Gul’s decision to
visit Armenia, criticizing him for unilaterally compromising on
foreign political interests.
Given Turkey’s stance on the genocide dispute, as well as its energy
deals with Azerbaijan, the trip qualified as a modest start to
expanding relations, said Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at
Bahcesehir University in Istanbul.
`Only through such organizations and close contact can people know and
learn about each other and grow conscious of taboo issues that were
left unspoken for years,’ Mr. Aktar said. `It is good that today’s
young people are willing to question and learn beyond what has been
dictated to them.’
The Turkish team won the soccer match, 2-0.