euronews, France
Sept 6 2008
Football unites Turkish and Armenian leaders
A greater prize than the World Cup was at stake in Yerevan, Armenia as
the two nations played a qualifying match. It is the first time they
have met.
But it is also the occasion for a first-ever visit by a Turkish head
of state. President Abdullah Gul will watch the game beside President
Serge Sarkissian, ending decades of diplomatic silence between the two
nations. It is thought it could lead to the full diplomatic relations
in the near future.
Sarkissian has already been invited to visit Ankara, and the two men
have underlined that the political will now exists for Turkey and
Armenia to solve their differences.
However the visit was greeted with anti-Turkish protests at the
airport, and around a memorial in the capital to Armenian victims of
the former Ottoman empire during the first world war.
It is the crisis in neigbouring Georgia that has forced the two
countries into a foreign policy rethink and as such they will avoid
discussing bilateral issues, concentrating on regional affairs.