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Turkish president pays landmark visit to Armenia

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  • Turkish president pays landmark visit to Armenia

    The Age, Australia
    Sept 7 2008



    Turkish president pays landmark visit to Armenia
    September 7, 2008 - 7:10AM

    The presidents of Armenia and Turkey pledged Saturday to overcome
    decades of enmity between their two nations during the first visit to
    Yerevan by a Turkish head of state.

    Abdullah Gul held talks with Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian
    after which the two agreed there was now the "political will" to
    improve relations frozen for decades by lingering bitterness over
    1915-1917 massacres.

    Gul's visit was hailed by French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy as
    "courageous and historic" at a time when the Caucasus region is in
    turmoil following the conflict in Armenia's northern neighbour
    Georgia.

    But in a sign of the hard road ahead, Gul's arrival at Yerevan's
    Hrazdan stadium to watch a World Cup football qualifier between the
    two nations was greeted by loud boos and hisses by Armenian fans.

    Amid tight security, Gul took his seat behind a special bullet-proof
    area and had to listen to the chorus of boos that accompanied every
    positive move by the Turkish team. The far stronger Turkish side ended
    up winning the match 2-0.

    "I hope that this visit will create the possibility to improve
    bilateral relations," Gul had said earlier in the Armenian capital.

    Sarkisian declared there was 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 protestors lined the route of Gul's motorcade as
    it made its way into the capital from Yerevan airport, holding aloft
    the Armenian flag and nationalist emblems.

    "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.

    "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.

    Turkey's footballers were supported by only about 200 forlorn
    followers in a seating area that could have held 10 times more and was
    ringed by Armenian police.

    Both sets of fans however departed peacefully while the Turkish
    president boarded a plane to return home.

    Some were prepared to embrace the conciliatory message the Turkish and
    Armenian leaders were trying to put across.

    "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 over for
    the game.

    "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.
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