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  • Turkey's President Visits Armenia

    From: "Katia M. Peltekian" <[email protected]>
    Subject: Turkey's President Visits Armenia

    New York Times, NY
    Sept 6 2008


    Turkey's President Visits Armenia

    By SEBNEM ARSU
    Published: September 6, 2008

    ISTANBUL ' Turkey's president arrived in Armenia on Saturday, the
    first visit by a Turkish leader in the two nations' history.

    The president, Abdullah Gul, was invited by the Armenian president,
    Serge Sargsyan, to attend a soccer game in Yerevan, the capital,
    between the national teams.

    The trip was widely seen as a symbolic gesture to normalize relations
    between the countries, which have recognized each other but have not
    established diplomatic relations.

    The two nations have deeply held disagreements about what is widely
    referred to as the Armenian genocide, in which more than one million
    Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Army in the early 1900s.

    Many Western countries support the genocide designation, but the
    official narrative in Turkey is that both Turks and Armenians were
    killed in warfare as the Ottoman Empire dissolved.

    The issue remains taboo in Turkey; many writers and intellectuals,
    including the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced criminal charges
    for discussing the events that began in 1915.

    The ruling Justice and Development Party of Mr. Gul has proposed,
    however, that foreign scholars be allowed to study Ottoman archives to
    look into the Armenian claims.

    Mr. Gul accepted the invitation to visit Armenia despite heavy public
    opposition in each nation. He said that attending the soccer game, a
    World Cup qualifying match, was an opportunity to improve ties.

    Security was heavy around the stadium in Yerevan, and protesters lined
    the streets along his motorcade's route.

    `I hope today's match will help lift the barriers to closer relations
    between two nations that share a common history, and contribute to the
    establishment of regional friendship and peace,' Mr. Gul said at a
    news conference before his departure for Yerevan.

    After a new government was elected in Armenia this year, relations
    between the countries improved; several meetings were held between
    Foreign Ministry officials on the two sides.

    `Although I cannot go into details, some consensus was reached for the
    normalization of bilateral relations,' said a Turkish Foreign Ministry
    official who asked not to be identified, under normal diplomatic
    rules.

    `Expectations should not be hyped, but the visit is clearly a goodwill
    gesture from Turkey,' the official said.

    Russia's military actions in Georgia, which borders Armenia and
    Turkey, have also fostered the rapprochement.

    In response to the conflict, Turkey formed a Caucasus Stability and
    Cooperation Platform to encourage political and economic links with
    five neighboring countries, including Armenia.

    On Saturday, Mr. Sargsyan said Armenia and Turkey would work together
    to solve regional conflicts. `We are going to resolve the issues and
    not pass them on to next generations,' he said.

    Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 after Armenia occupied
    Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan, Turkey's close ally and
    energy provider in the region. The border remains closed, and economic
    and trade ties are scant.

    The main opposition party in Turkey condemned Mr. Gul's decision to
    visit Armenia, criticizing him for unilaterally compromising on
    foreign political interests.

    Given Turkey's stance on the genocide dispute, as well as its energy
    deals with Azerbaijan, the trip qualified as a modest start to
    expanding relations, said Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at
    Bahcesehir University in Istanbul.

    `Only through such organizations and close contact can people know and
    learn about each other and grow conscious of taboo issues that were
    left unspoken for years,' Mr. Aktar said. `It is good that today's
    young people are willing to question and learn beyond what has been
    dictated to them.'

    The Turkish team won the soccer match, 2-0.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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