PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA MAY LEAVE FOR TURKEY TO WATCH FOOTBALL MATCH AS FOOTBALL FAN – DEMOCRATIC PARTY

ARKA
Aug 27, 2009

YEREVAN, August 27. /ARKA/. RA President Serzh Sargsyan may leave for
Turkey to watch the football match as a football fan, said leader
of Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan at a press-conference
on Thursday.

"The visit may not stipulate any negotiations and be analogous to
the visit of the Turkish president last year," Sargsyan said.

According to him, on the other hand the President of Armenia has
all grounds for not going to Turkey, as the Turkey has not met its
engagements.

"Armenian-Turkish relations cannot develop further as Turkey has lost
any interest to the process. Imitation of endevour to regulate the
relations was based on the desire to enter the European Union. As
soon as Sarkozy and Merkel eliminated that possibility, Turkey lost
its interest for regulating the bilateral relations.

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

Complicated relations are caused by a number of conditions, namely
Turkey’s open pro-Azerbaijani stance in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as
well as its strong reaction to the process of international recognition
of the Armenian Genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The progress in Armenian-Turkish relations has started since last
September 6, when President of Turkey Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan at
the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to be present
at a football match between the Armenian and Turkish national teams
as part of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers. During the visit the sides
discussed opportunities for settling bilateral relations.