ARMENIA AND TURKEY PROBE NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS
Marianna Grigoryan
EurasiaNet
Sept 8 2008
NY
Turkey handily won its September 6 World Cup qualifying match against
Armenia. But for many the 2-0 final score was not as important as
the game’s diplomatic outcome. The match appears to have catalyzed
an effort to normalize bilateral relations.
In a diplomatic first in the troubled history of Armenian-Turkish
relations, a Turkish head of state appeared in Yerevan. President
Abdullah Gul spent approximately six hours on Armenian soil on
September 6, much of it in the company of his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsyan. The two watched the qualifying match from behind
bullet-proof glass. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
>From Sargsyan’s point of view, the game was a success, even if the
result was disappointing for Armenian football fans. Sargsyan said
Gul had extended an invitation to make a reciprocal visit to Turkey,
a gesture that the Armenian president termed "a good start."
Gul sounded an even more optimistic note upon his return to
Ankara. "Everything will move forward and normalize if this
climate continues," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as
saying. "I believe my visit has destroyed a psychological barrier in
the Caucasus."
The Turkish daily Hurriyet reported September 8 that Turkish Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan and his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian
during a follow-up meeting agreed on steps that could pave the
way for the normalization of bilateral ties. The two foreign
ministers reportedly discussed the opening of Turkey’s closed
border with Armenia, along with the establishment of full diplomatic
relations. The two sides also attempted to find common ground on a
political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Gul’s office
revealed that he will go to Azerbaijan on September 10 to discuss
the changing diplomatic situation with Azerbaijani leaders.
The apparent diplomatic goodwill of Armenian and Turkish leaders
was not so evident on the streets of Yerevan, or inside Hrazdan
Stadium. After arriving in Armenia, Gul traveled around the capital in
an armored vehicle. Eight Turkish snipers reportedly worked jointly
with an Armenian detail to provide additional security, and 5,000
police stood guard at the stadium during the match.
Protesters from the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation
staked out the route from the airport to the presidential palace. Boos
and chants of "Recognition" – a reference to the demand that Ankara
recognize Ottoman Turkey’s 1915 slaughter of ethnic Armenians as
genocide – met President Gul upon his arrival at President Sargsyan’s
residence.
Police trying to clear out the mostly 20-something protestors had to
contend with reminders from that past. "When we backed off [before],
that’s how Western Armenia [modern-day eastern Turkey] became theirs,"
declared senior Armenian Revolutionary Federation member and former
presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannisian when police moved in to
remove the demonstrators from one downtown street.
Despite the prevalence of street banners evoking the events of 1915,
not all Yerevan residents welcomed the protest and its message.
"Now is the time for solving everything in a more civilized manner,"
said Lusine Gevorgian, a 37-year-old hairdresser. "If the Turkish
president accepted the invitation, we should receive him as a guest. It
is another thing that we all wanted our team to win."
But Armenia’s past was ever-present, with one sports commentator
using it to try to explain the national team’s on-the-field loss to
Turkey. "Our soccer players did not play well and I think that first
of all it was because of the great responsibility [placed on them],"
commentator Slava Sarkisian [no relation to President Sargsyan]
said on Armenian Public Television during the game. "They carried
the brunt of a hundred-year history on their shoulders."
Jan Poulson, the Armenian national team head coach, attributed the
loss to the more mundane issue of skill. "I don’t think that politics
and history played a role here," Poulson told EurasiaNet. "We played
against a very strong opponent and did everything we could. We should
have been a little more realistic." According to the latest FIFA
(FÃ~C©dÃ~C©ra tion Internationale de Football Association) ratings,
Turkey is ranked 10th in the world; Armenia holds 98th place.
Despite the loss, some analysts see long-term gains for Armenia.
"Gul’s visit to Armenia by itself is a very positive step for the
normal development of future relations between the two countries,"
commented independent political analyst Richard Giragosian. "The
first step has been taken. The next step should be the opening of the
Armenia-Turkey border and establishment of diplomatic ties. The issue
of genocide recognition will be the most difficult issue above all."
But Ruben Safrastian, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies
at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, cautions that it is
still too early to make predictions. "An important achievement is
that negotiations will continue," Safrastian said. "The Turkish side
appears to be trying to change its attitude towards Armenia and [its
reaction] is also conditioned on geopolitical changes happening in
the region. By this step, Turkey is trying to solidify its role in
the South Caucasus."
The need for Ankara to settle its relations with Armenia before the
European Union can accept Turkey’s bid for membership likely also
played a role in Gul’s decision to travel to Armenia, Safrastian
added. In a September 5 statement, the European Union termed the visit
an "important first step" toward "a full normalization of relations
between these two countries."
One Yerevan spectator could only echo that evaluation: "It would
have been good if our team had won, or at least scored one goal, but
one must accept that there are no losers in this match," commented
57-year-old Armen Mkrtchian. "Peace has won."
Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the ArmeniaNow.com
weekly in Yerevan.
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