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ISTANBUL: Bağış invites Christofias on condition

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  • ISTANBUL: Bağış invites Christofias on condition

    Hurriyet, Turkey
    Sept 3 2012

    Bağış invites Christofias on condition

    ISTANBUL


    Turkey's EU minister and chief accession negotiator, Egemen Bağış, has
    unofficially invited Greek Cyprus President Demetris Christofias to
    Istanbul - albeit with one condition: He must sit at the same table as
    his Turkish Cypriot counterpart.

    Bağış told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday that Christofias was
    "looking for a reason to come to Istanbul" and that he should talk to
    Turkish Cypriot President Derviş Eroğlu about the possibility of
    coming to Istanbul to watch a Europa League game between Fenerbahçe
    and Greek Cypriot club AEL Limassol scheduled for Nov. 8.

    "I will be happy to be the host provided that they will come together
    and sit at the same table," Bağış said in a phone interview.

    Football has played a significant role in Turkish foreign diplomacy in
    the past, with national team matches against Armenia in 2008 and 2009
    paving the way for failed reconciliation efforts between the two
    countries.

    Fenerbahçe, which was relegated to play in the Europa League after
    being knocked out of the Champions League playoff round on Aug. 29,
    was drawn in Group C of the competition along with AEL Limassol,
    France's Olympic Marseille and Germany's Borussia Mönchengladbach.

    Fenerbahçe is scheduled to travel to Greek Cyprus on Oct. 25 and the
    experience might be difficult when considering Turkish clubs' earlier
    visits to the island.

    Bağış also highlighted the possibility of protests against the Turkish
    club. "When Galatasaray went there, they had major troubles," Bağış
    said. "The problems they faced were the result of a non-state. Maybe
    they should seek help from Turkish Rep. of Northern Cyprus for the
    Fenerbahçe game."

    Last year, Galatasaray women's volleyball team was subjected to debris
    thrown from the stands during a game with Apollon Limassol, and there
    were similar attacks during Pınar Karşıyaka's basketball match against
    APOEL.

    The minister made assurances that the Greek Cypriot team would not
    face such troubles in the game in Istanbul.

    "They should not be worried, they will be hosted in Istanbul in the
    best way possible," Bağış said. "I personally guarantee that there
    will not be any problem."

    It is too early to speculate whether the Europa League games between
    the Turkish and Greek Cypriot clubs could lead to a kind of "football
    diplomacy" similar to the one between Turkey and Armenia.

    In September 2008, Abdullah Gül became the first Turkish president to
    visit Armenia when he traveled to Yerevan for a World Cup football
    qualifier. In the aftermath, the two countries agreed on a road map to
    re-establish diplomatic relations, including a plan to reopen the
    border.

    An accord was signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries,
    Ahmet Davutoğlu and Eduard Nalbandian, on Oct. 10, 2009, in Zurich,
    and President Serzh Sargsyan subsequently returned the favor,
    traveling to Turkey to watch the teams' second qualifier against each
    other four days later.

    However, the reconciliation efforts were damaged in subsequent months
    when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkish
    ratification of the protocols depended on a peace deal in
    Nagorno-Karabakh. Sargsyan announced the suspension of the
    ratification process in April 2010 on a request from the ruling
    coalition.
    September/03/2012

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