SERZH SARGSYAN VISIT TO TURKEY FOURTH ON PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL
Panorama.am
15:29 14/10/2009
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is due to leave for Turkey today,
October 14 to watch Turkey-Armenia football match in the Turkish city
of Bursa.
Armenian President’s visit, at the invitation of the Turkish President
Abdullah Gul is actually a response visit to the one Gul paid to
Armenia last year.
However, Abdullah Gul arrival in Yerevan was historical in the view
it was the first visit of a Turkish leader to Armenia, whereas Serzh
Sargsyan visit has precedents. This is the fourth time in the history
of Independent Armenia when the President of the Republic of Armenia
for this reason or that pays a visit to Turkey.
The first two visits to Turkey were paid by Armenia’s First President,
particularly in June, 1992 to attend the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization summit and in April, 1993 to attend the burial ceremony
of the Turkish President Turgut Ozal. The third visit was paid by
Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan in November, 1999 to
attend the OSCE summit in Istanbul.
Thus, Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Bursa is fourth on the Presidential
level.
This is the final match of the Armenian National Football team in
the frames of the World Cup 2010 qualifying tour, to play against
Turkey’s team in Bursa Ataturk stadium.
By now the two teams have had only one meeting. The match was due in
Yerevan, September, 6, 2008, when Turkey’s team scored 2:0 against
Armenians.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had invited his Turkish counterpart
to Yerevan to watch the football match. The invitation was accepted
and the Armenian-Turkish normalization process followed, which came
to be known among the international public as "football diplomacy".
Currently the process has reached a significant stage since Armenia and
Turkey signed Protocols on establishing diplomatic relations in Zurich
last week. Though the Armenian President had received the invitation
to visit Turkey last September, it was only several days ago, October
12 when the President announced he will accept the invitation.