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Leaders of Turkey, Armenia Vow to Improve Bilateral Ties

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  • Leaders of Turkey, Armenia Vow to Improve Bilateral Ties

    Voice of America
    Sept 6 2008


    Leaders of Turkey, Armenia Vow to Improve Bilateral Ties


    By VOA News
    06 September 2008

    The leaders of Turkey and Armenia say they are determined to solve
    problems that exist between the neighboring countries, following
    historic talks in the Armenian capital.

    Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan says those problems must not be
    left to future generations.

    Mr. Sarkisyan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke after meeting
    Saturday in Mr. Sarkisyan's office in Yerevan - a critical
    breakthrough for two nations that have no diplomatic ties.

    Mr. Gul traveled to Armenia today after Mr. Sarkisyan had invited him
    in July to attend a football (soccer) game in Yerevan between Armenia
    and Turkey.

    President Gul is the first Turkish leader to visit Armenia, although
    his visit is not official. He said he hoped the football game will
    help remove barriers between two nations that share a common history,
    and also contribute to regional peace and stability.

    The football teams of Armenia and Turkey are playing today in a World
    Cup qualifying match.

    In Yerevan, Mr. Gul's motorcade passed hundreds of protesters who were
    demanding that Turkey admit its role in the killing of one-and-a-half
    million ethnic Armenians nearly a century ago.

    Armenians, along with much of the international community, say
    Turkey's Ottoman rulers killed one-and-a-half million Armenians in an
    orchestrated campaign between 1915 and 1923. Ankara strongly denies
    the charge of genocide. It says the number of Armenian deaths is
    inflated and that many Turks also were killed during the collapse of
    the Ottoman Empire.

    Turkey and Armenia, which cut ties 15 years ago, are also at odds over
    a disputed ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

    Armenia and Turkish-backed Azerbaijan fought a six-year conflict over
    Azerbaijan's largely Armenian-inhabited Nagorno-Karabakh region, which
    declared independence in 1988. A cease-fire was declared in 1994, but
    sporadic exchanges of gunfire continue. The conflict has claimed
    35,000 lives.
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