Voice of America
Sept 6 2008

Leaders of Turkey, Armenia Vow to Improve Bilateral Ties

By VOA News
06 September 2008

The leaders of Turkey and Armenia say they are determined to solve
problems that exist between the neighboring countries, following
historic talks in the Armenian capital.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan says those problems must not be
left to future generations.

Mr. Sarkisyan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke after meeting
Saturday in Mr. Sarkisyan’s office in Yerevan – a critical
breakthrough for two nations that have no diplomatic ties.

Mr. Gul traveled to Armenia today after Mr. Sarkisyan had invited him
in July to attend a football (soccer) game in Yerevan between Armenia
and Turkey.

President Gul is the first Turkish leader to visit Armenia, although
his visit is not official. He said he hoped the football game will
help remove barriers between two nations that share a common history,
and also contribute to regional peace and stability.

The football teams of Armenia and Turkey are playing today in a World
Cup qualifying match.

In Yerevan, Mr. Gul’s motorcade passed hundreds of protesters who were
demanding that Turkey admit its role in the killing of one-and-a-half
million ethnic Armenians nearly a century ago.

Armenians, along with much of the international community, say
Turkey’s Ottoman rulers killed one-and-a-half million Armenians in an
orchestrated campaign between 1915 and 1923. Ankara strongly denies
the charge of genocide. It says the number of Armenian deaths is
inflated and that many Turks also were killed during the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey and Armenia, which cut ties 15 years ago, are also at odds over
a disputed ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Turkish-backed Azerbaijan fought a six-year conflict over
Azerbaijan’s largely Armenian-inhabited Nagorno-Karabakh region, which
declared independence in 1988. A cease-fire was declared in 1994, but
sporadic exchanges of gunfire continue. The conflict has claimed
35,000 lives.