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Turkey's Gul sees hope beyond Armenia soccer match
Reuters,
Saturday September 6 2008
By Paul de Bendern
ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkish President Abdullah Gul expressed
hope on Saturday that a landmark soccer match between Turkey and
Armenia would aid a "rapprochement" of neighbouring nations at odds for
nearly 100 years.
Gul spoke on departure for Yerevan, where he will attend Saturday
evening's World Cup qualifier at the Hrazdan stadium and become the
first Turkish leader to step foot in Armenia.
"This match is important beyond being the first match between the
Turkish and Armenian national teams," he told a news conference. "It
has a significance that will present important opportunities."
Ankara and Yerevan have no diplomatic ties but a relationship haunted
by the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
during World War One. Armenians describe the events as genocide, but
Turkey argues Turks and Armenians alike were killed in partisan warfare.
"I hope today's match will contribute to removing barriers to the
rapprochement of two peoples with a common history, and contribute to
regional peace and stability," said Gul.
Turkey has never opened an embassy in Armenia and in 1993 Ankara closed
their land border in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, a
Turkic-speaking ally which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
But Russia's decision last month to send its forces into Georgia, an
ex-Soviet state which borders both Armenia and Turkey, has convinced
many that it is time for Ankara and Yerevan to put their differences
aside.
SOCCER SYMBOLISM
"We saw a month ago how unresolved issues in the Caucasus threaten
peace in the region," Gul said. "Making this trip at such a time makes
it especially important."
The Turkish leader said talks with Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan
would include issues of bilateral relations and Nagorno-Karabakh.
In Yerevan, police said "strengthened security measures" would be in
place, with streets around the stadium and the presidential office
closed to traffic.
The nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party says it will protest Gul's visit,
demanding Turkey recognise the World War One killings as genocide.
Activists will light candles at a memorial to the killings that lies on
a hillside above the stadium.
Armenia says 1.5 million ethnic Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman
Turks. Turkey denies there was genocide and says the deaths were the
result of inter-ethnic conflict that also killed many Muslim Turks.
If they can move beyond the soccer symbolism to re-establish normal
relations, that could have huge significance for Turkey's role as a
regional power, for energy flows from the Caspian Sea and for Western
influence in the South Caucasus.
landlocked Armenia, a Soviet republic until 1991, could also derive
enormous benefits from the opening of the frontier with its large
neighbour and the restoration of a key rail link.
Western-backed pipelines shipping oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to
Turkey's Mediterranean coast bypass Armenia and bend north instead to
go through Georgia.
With that route looking vulnerable after the Russian intervention,
Armenia could be an attractive alternative route.
For a blog, click on:
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2008/09/05/turkis h-armenian-soccer-diplomacy/
Reuters,
Saturday September 6 2008
By Paul de Bendern
ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkish President Abdullah Gul expressed
hope on Saturday that a landmark soccer match between Turkey and
Armenia would aid a "rapprochement" of neighbouring nations at odds for
nearly 100 years.
Gul spoke on departure for Yerevan, where he will attend Saturday
evening's World Cup qualifier at the Hrazdan stadium and become the
first Turkish leader to step foot in Armenia.
"This match is important beyond being the first match between the
Turkish and Armenian national teams," he told a news conference. "It
has a significance that will present important opportunities."
Ankara and Yerevan have no diplomatic ties but a relationship haunted
by the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
during World War One. Armenians describe the events as genocide, but
Turkey argues Turks and Armenians alike were killed in partisan warfare.
"I hope today's match will contribute to removing barriers to the
rapprochement of two peoples with a common history, and contribute to
regional peace and stability," said Gul.
Turkey has never opened an embassy in Armenia and in 1993 Ankara closed
their land border in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, a
Turkic-speaking ally which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
But Russia's decision last month to send its forces into Georgia, an
ex-Soviet state which borders both Armenia and Turkey, has convinced
many that it is time for Ankara and Yerevan to put their differences
aside.
SOCCER SYMBOLISM
"We saw a month ago how unresolved issues in the Caucasus threaten
peace in the region," Gul said. "Making this trip at such a time makes
it especially important."
The Turkish leader said talks with Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan
would include issues of bilateral relations and Nagorno-Karabakh.
In Yerevan, police said "strengthened security measures" would be in
place, with streets around the stadium and the presidential office
closed to traffic.
The nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party says it will protest Gul's visit,
demanding Turkey recognise the World War One killings as genocide.
Activists will light candles at a memorial to the killings that lies on
a hillside above the stadium.
Armenia says 1.5 million ethnic Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman
Turks. Turkey denies there was genocide and says the deaths were the
result of inter-ethnic conflict that also killed many Muslim Turks.
If they can move beyond the soccer symbolism to re-establish normal
relations, that could have huge significance for Turkey's role as a
regional power, for energy flows from the Caspian Sea and for Western
influence in the South Caucasus.
landlocked Armenia, a Soviet republic until 1991, could also derive
enormous benefits from the opening of the frontier with its large
neighbour and the restoration of a key rail link.
Western-backed pipelines shipping oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to
Turkey's Mediterranean coast bypass Armenia and bend north instead to
go through Georgia.
With that route looking vulnerable after the Russian intervention,
Armenia could be an attractive alternative route.
For a blog, click on:
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2008/09/05/turkis h-armenian-soccer-diplomacy/