Armenian national anthem booed by Turkish fans

Al-Arabiya.net, UAE
October 13, 2009 Tuesday

Turkish fans loudly booed Armenia’s national anthem at the start of a
World Cup qualifier here Wednesday attended by Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian.

The jeering also followed the presentation of the Armenian team,
despite appeals from loudspeakers for respect and hospitality.
Sarkisian was watching the game with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in
a show of unity between the two long-estranged neighbors, just days
after they signed deals to overcome a bloody history and normalize
relations. The two presidents shook hands to applause in the
tightly-policed stadium — a scene unthinkable only a few years ago
after a century of rancor rooted in the World War One killings of
Armenians.

Turkey and Armenia 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.

"We are not writing history. We are making history," Gul said in talks
between the two delegations before the match.

Local fans waved thousands of red-and-white Turkish flags across the
stadium, chanting "Turkey, Turkey", while a small group of Armenians
waved their country’s flag in one corner.

Gul became the first Turkish leader to visit Yerevan last year for the
first leg of what has been called "soccer diplomacy" and the two
countries signed a landmark peace accord on Saturday.

The Turkish national anthem and players were similarly booed in
Yerevan during Gul’s visit Sept. 2008.

Challenges

The agreement, still facing challenges, could help stabilize the south
Caucasus with its vulnerable energy corridor and ease poverty-stricken
Armenia’s geographical isolation.

But it is deeply resisted by nationalists in both countries as well as
by Turkey’s close ally and oil and gas producer Azerbaijan. Turkish
and Armenian parliaments must approve it.

Turkey was leading 2-0 at half-time, but the outcome however was of no
significance as both Armenia and Turkey are already out of the running
for the 2010 World Cup finals.

However unprecedented security for the match underlined how much was
at stake. Neither side wants to give ammunition to opponents of
Armenian-Turkish normalization.

The match at the 18,600-capacity stadium was by invitation only, with
many of the guests police academy students. Some 1,500 police were on
duty.

Special forces marksmen monitored the crowd from the roof of the
stadium, scanning the stands with binoculars.
There were scuffles outside the stadium between police and a group of
Turkish supporters without tickets, prompting the police to spray them
with pepper gas.

Thorny issues

The game in Bursa, a former Ottoman imperial city, gave the presidents
a chance to discuss thorny unresolved issues, including lands disputed
by Azerbaijan and Armenia and popular opinion polarized by genocide
accusations.

Sarksyan is under intense pressure from nationalists at home and
influential diaspora Armenians not to deal with Ankara until it
acknowledges genocide.

"We are doing a good thing. We are taking steps that we believe are
right," state-run Anatolian news agency reported Sarksyan as saying in
talks between the delegations.

Endorsement of the agreement could ease Armenia’s economic plight and
strengthen Turkey’s European Union membership bid.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said the protocols will be submitted
to parliament next week, but many observers are skeptical there will
be approval before progress on disputed territories, including
Nagorno-Karabakh, to satisfy Azerbaijan.
Turkey cut ties and shut its border with Armenia in 1993 over an
uprising in Karabakh by ethnic Armenians who also seized a swathe of
Azeri land around the territory.

Fighting ended in Karabakh with a ceasefire in 1994 after 30,000 were
killed. Talks are under way over a final settlement.