Deutsche Welle, Germany
Sept 6 2008

Turkish President Pursues Football Diplomacy on Armenia Trip

Turkish President Abdullah Gul is undertaking a historic visit to
Armenia that analysts have said marks a thaw in relations between the
inimical neighbors.

Gul’s day trip to Yerevan where he will meet his Armenian counterpart
Serge Sarkisian and then attend a Armenia-Turkey World Cup qualifying
match is the first visit by a Turkish head of state to Armenia since
the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

"I hope that the match that will be played today will be a catalyst to
eliminating obstacles that are preventing the two peoples who share a
common history from getting closer and that it will contribute to
regional friendship and peace," Gul said at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport
Saturday afternoon.

While Turkey immediately recognized Armenian independence, Turkey cut
off all ties and closed its land border in 1993 following Armenia’s
occupation of Azeri Nagorno-Karabakh.

Relations are also strained by Turkey’s refusal to accept as genocide
the deaths of up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in the last days of
the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says that while there were massacres of
ethnic-Armenians the events do do constitute genocide and were instead
the result of a civil uprising during the First World War.

Visit opposed in both countries

Gul’s visit has split the Turkish public with newspapers reporting
that around 60 percent are against the trip. Opposition parties have
condemned the visit and deputies from the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) made a group decision that none of its
parliamentarians would attend the match.

Protests are also expected to take place in the Armenian capital of
Yerevan with Armenians upset with the visit.

The trip aims to soften hardened attitudes in both countries with Gul
expected to bring up a number of issues during his one-hour meeting
with Sarkisian — a Turkish initiative to establish a joint historical
committee to look at the genocide issue, Turkey’s bid to set up a
Caucasus platform to solve regional problems and Armenia’s continued
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

DPA news agency (kjb)