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HISTORIC VISIT MARKS NEW BEGINNING FOR TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS
Spasena Baramova
Sofia Echo
Sept 8 2008
Bulgaria
The historic visit Turkish president Abdullah Gul paid to Armenia
marked a new beginning in the relations of the two neighbouring
countries that have for many decades refused to engage in any dialogue
whatsoever over a bitter genocide row.
On September 6 2008, Gul visited Yerevan at the invitation of Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to watch a football World Cup qualifying
match between the national teams of the two countries, which Turkey
won 2-0.
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Gul and Sargsyan decided to
improve the bilateral diplomatic ties by raising the level of the
regular consulting mechanism between their states to foreign ministers,
speeding up the efforts to establish a joint commission for resolving
the genocide claims, forming a separate economic commission and
possibly opening the closed border between them to send humanitarian
aid to Armenia.
The two countries do not have diplomatic relations as a major dispute
has been dividing them ever since World War One. Over 1915/17, about
1.5 million Armenians were killed in the then Ottoman Empire. Armenia
has ever since requested that the massacres be labelled as genocide,
something Turkey strongly opposes.
Moreover, in 1993 Turkey closed its border with Armenia over the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between the Armenians and the Azeri, who
are a close ally of Turkey.
"We hope we will be able to demonstrate goodwill to solve the problems
between our countries and not transfer them to future generations,"
Reuters quoted Sargsyan as saying after the meeting.
According to media reports, the two heads of state devoted much of
their talks to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue but did not even mention
the genocide claims. Sargsyan also spoke well of Turkey's idea of
creating a Caucasus stability and co-operation platform following
the war in Georgia.
"If we create a good atmosphere and climate for this process, this
will be a great achievement, and will also benefit stability and
co-operation in the Caucasus," Gul said, as quoted by Reuters.
During their talks, Gul invited Sargsyan to see the return football
match between Turkey and Armenia that is to be held in October
2009. The two presidents will have the chance to meet much earlier,
though, on the sidelines of a United Nations summit happening at the
end of September.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Spasena Baramova
Sofia Echo
Sept 8 2008
Bulgaria
The historic visit Turkish president Abdullah Gul paid to Armenia
marked a new beginning in the relations of the two neighbouring
countries that have for many decades refused to engage in any dialogue
whatsoever over a bitter genocide row.
On September 6 2008, Gul visited Yerevan at the invitation of Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to watch a football World Cup qualifying
match between the national teams of the two countries, which Turkey
won 2-0.
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Gul and Sargsyan decided to
improve the bilateral diplomatic ties by raising the level of the
regular consulting mechanism between their states to foreign ministers,
speeding up the efforts to establish a joint commission for resolving
the genocide claims, forming a separate economic commission and
possibly opening the closed border between them to send humanitarian
aid to Armenia.
The two countries do not have diplomatic relations as a major dispute
has been dividing them ever since World War One. Over 1915/17, about
1.5 million Armenians were killed in the then Ottoman Empire. Armenia
has ever since requested that the massacres be labelled as genocide,
something Turkey strongly opposes.
Moreover, in 1993 Turkey closed its border with Armenia over the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between the Armenians and the Azeri, who
are a close ally of Turkey.
"We hope we will be able to demonstrate goodwill to solve the problems
between our countries and not transfer them to future generations,"
Reuters quoted Sargsyan as saying after the meeting.
According to media reports, the two heads of state devoted much of
their talks to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue but did not even mention
the genocide claims. Sargsyan also spoke well of Turkey's idea of
creating a Caucasus stability and co-operation platform following
the war in Georgia.
"If we create a good atmosphere and climate for this process, this
will be a great achievement, and will also benefit stability and
co-operation in the Caucasus," Gul said, as quoted by Reuters.
During their talks, Gul invited Sargsyan to see the return football
match between Turkey and Armenia that is to be held in October
2009. The two presidents will have the chance to meet much earlier,
though, on the sidelines of a United Nations summit happening at the
end of September.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress