ARMENIAN PRESIDENT HEARS JEERS ON HISTORIC VISIT TO TURKEY
The Age
October 15, 2009 – 8:09AM
Armenia’s president paid a landmark visit to Turkey Wednesday, and
jeering at the football match he attended showed the difficulty the
two nations face in trying to overcome their bloody history.
Serzh Sarkisian and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul met "in an
extremely positive atmosphere" ahead of the game, diplomats said,
but there was loud booing of Armenia’s national anthem at the stadium.
Sarkisian flew to the northwestern city of Bursa just four days after
Turkey and Armenia, backed by world powers, signed historic deals to
end decades of hostility, establish formal ties and open their border.
The protocols still need parliamentary ratifications to take effect
and the process is expected to take time amid nationalist ire in
both countries.
Gul hailed the deals as "history making" and "both sides conceded the
process will be difficult… but expressed hope that support for the
agreements will grow," a Turkish diplomat said.
An Armenian diplomat stressed his country "expects to get a guarantee
from Turkey that the ratification will not be drawn out and will
occur within a logical timeframe."
The two nations have been estranged since World War I when, Armenians
say, 1.5 million of their kin were killed by their Ottoman rulers in
what was a genocide, a label Turkey fiercely rejects.
Two other Armenian presidents have visited Turkey in the past for
international gatherings, but Sarkisian was the first to come on a
bilateral occasion.
Gul and Sarkisian watched the match in the company of UEFA President
Michel Platini, as well as the foreign ministers of the two countries
and of Switzerland, which has acted as mediator between them since
August 2007.
Sarkisian smiled mildly as Turkey scored, while Gul applauded, after
which the two were seen chatting.
Turkey won 2-0, but the outcome was of no significance as both sides
were already out of the running for the 2010 World C be a show of
bridge-building, the authorities imposed stringent security measures
and tough rules for spectators.
But despite appeals from loudspeakers for respect and hospitality,
intensive jeering erupted when Armenia’s national anthem was played
and its team presented at the start of the game.
Earlier, a bus carrying Armenian journalists was pelted with stones
by dozens of shouting fans, but no one was injured.
Some 3,000 police were on duty for the game, in addition to plain
clothes officers assigned to sit among spectators to prevent offensive
chants.
Ticket sales were restricted, with most reportedly distributed to
military academy students, police and their families, prompting
protests outside the stadium.
Police used tear gas to disperse a group of fans without tickets
after brief scuffles, Anatolia news agency reported.
Still, Sarkisian told reporters before wrapping up his visit that
the two countries "accomplished a great job today."
Armenia’s opposition had condemned his trip to Turkey, accusing
Sarkisian of betraying the country’s interests.
And for many Turks, the peace effort amounts to selling out Azerbaijan,
one of Ankara’s closest allies, whose conflict with Armenia over the
disputed Nagorny Karabakh region had led Turkey in 1993 to seal its
border with Armenia.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed Tuesday that
progress on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict would determine the Turkish
parliament’s ratification of the deals with Armenia.
Yerevan says ties with Turkey should be established without
pre-conditions and categorically rejects any link to its conflict
with Azerbaijan.
Sarkisian’s trip to Turkey was a return of an earlier gesture by Gul,
who became the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia when he
attended the first-leg match in Yerevan in September 2008.
2009 AFP This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency
as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American
usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.