TURKISH AND ARMENIAN LEADERS TAKE 2008 PEACE AND SPORT AWARD
Hurriyet
Dec 5 2008
Turkey
Turkish and Armenian presidents were awarded for a peace and sports
prize for their landmark meeting in September.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Armenian counterpart Serzh
Sargsyan were awarded in the International Peace and Sport Forum’s 2008
session in Monaco for their landmark meeting in Yerevan in September.
Gul and Sargsyan were awarded for a photograph of the historic
handshake during the qualifying match for the Football World Cup
between Turkey and Armenia.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been
closed for more than a decade, as Armenia presses the international
community to admit the so-called "genocide" claims instead of accepting
Turkey’s call to investigate the allegations, and Armenia’s invasion
of 20 percent territory of Azerbaijan.
A warmer period began the two countries began after Turkish President
Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan in September on the
occasion of a Turkish-Armenian World Cup football qualifying match.
"Thanks to football, this moment marked the end of nearly two decades
of diplomatic silence", the organization said on its website.
H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco presented the award jointly to
Mahmut Ozgener, President of the Turkish Football Federation, and to
Armen Grigorian, Armenian Minister of Youth and Sport, who exchanged
long greetings on stage.