EXPERT: ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S "FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY" TO PRODUCE RESULTS IN OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER

ARKA
June 30, 2009

YEREVAN, June 30. /ARKA/. Armenian president’s so-called football
diplomacy is expected to produce results no sooner than in late
October or early November, Karen Bekaryan, head of European Integration
organization, said in Novosti International Press Centre on Tuesday.

"I welcome "football diplomacy", but its effectiveness will be seen
only in late October or early November", he said.

He said he didn’t share opinion that this diplomacy gave nothing
to Armenia.

Bekaryan finds it wrong to expect immediate results.

He forecasts seeming political sluggishness in summer season and
thinks the problem will be discussed later, in September.

It will be possible to say then how effective is this diplomacy.

There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and the
state border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara’s initiative.

Turkey has set a number of pre-conditions for improving bilateral
relations, namely, Armenia’s abandoning the policy of international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide and recognizing Turkey’s
present-day borders.

The thaw in relations between the two countries began from Turkish
President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Yerevan on September 6, 2008. He
came to Armenia at his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation
to attend a 2010 World Cup qualifier in Yerevan.