Agence France Presse, France
Sept 6 2008
Turkish president pays historic visit to Armenia
YEREVAN (AFP) ‘ Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul paid an historic visit
to Armenia on Saturday, seeking to end bitter animosity that dates
back to the killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
In the first trip by a Turkish head of state to the ex-Soviet nation,
Gul held talks with Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian, after which
the two pledged to overcome decades of enmity.
Both leaders said there was now the "political will" to mend ties
between the two neighbours before heading off together to Yerevan’s
Hrazdan stadium to watch a World Cup football qualifier between their
nations.
But in a sign of the difficult road ahead, Gul’s arrival at the match
and the Turkish national anthem were greeted with loud boos and hisses
by Armenian fans.
"I hope that this visit will create the possibility to improve
bilateral relations," Gul said after his landmark meeting in the
Armenian capital.
Sarkisian declared there is a "political will to decide the questions
between our countries, so that these problems are not passed on to the
next generation."
He also said he had been asked by Gul to attend a return football
fixture in Turkey on October 14 but did not say whether or not he had
accepted.
The two countries — which have no diplomatic relations — have waged
an international diplomatic battle over Yerevan’s efforts to have the
1915-1917 massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians recognised as
genocide.
Several hundred angry nationalist protestors lined the route of Gul’s
motorcade as it made its way into the capital from Yerevan airport to
see Sarkisian.
Holding aloft their nation’s flag as well as the emblem of the
nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation, they complained
bitterly that Gul was visiting when Turkey refuses to admit genocide.
"We are here because we want to tell the entire world that we do not
forget the genocide of 1915. We will not welcome Gul or any other Turk
until they have recognised the genocide," one protester, Bardasar
Akhpar, told AFP.
At the start of the match, about 80 young protesters gathered at a
monument to victims of the killings in central Yerevan, laying flowers
and lighting torches that they said would burn for the entirety of the
game.
"We want to draw (Gul’s) attention to this monument, so he knows it is
not standing empty and that people have gathered here to show that the
young generation remembers everything," said organiser Airapet
Babaian.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed between
1915 and 1917 in orchestrated massacres during World War I as the
Ottoman Empire fell apart — a claim supported by several other
countries.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided
with invading Russian troops.
Officials said extra security measures had been employed on Gul’s
airport route and at the match, while local media reported that both
Turkish and Armenian snipers would be training their sights across the
Hrazdan stadium.
Apart from the protesters on the airport road, the streets of Yerevan
appeared calm ahead of the game.
Planeloads of Turkish fans and peace activists had been arriving in
the city since Friday.
"I’m not interested in football at all. In fact, I hate it because of
the nationalism that comes with it," said Ahmet Turkana, a Turkish
activist from a pro-democracy group called Young Civilians.
"But today it’s different. Football is here to unite, not to divide."
Sevak Sahakian, a hotel worker in Yerevan said: "Everyone knows about
it and people are happy because they hope better ties with Turkey will
improve daily life. But people aren’t enthusiastic because they don’t
trust the Turks."
Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia since the
former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991.
In 1993 Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijan, then at war with Armenia
over Nagorny Karabakh, an Armenian-majority region in Azerbaijan which
declared independence.
The move dealt a heavy blow to Armenia, an impoverished nation wedged
between Turkey and Azerbaijan in the strategic Caucasus region.