Sport
Turkey: Armenian president to attend soccer match
Yerevan, 12 October (AKI) - Armenian president Serzh Sarksyan will on Wednesday visit Turkey to watch it play Armenia in the Turkish town of Bursa, in the second leg of their World Cup qualifier, Turkish media reports say. The visit follows a landmark pact signed at the weekend normalising ties and ending a century of hostility stemming from the World War One killings of both Armenians and Turks.
Sarksyan said he had accepted an invitation by his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, to watch the match in Bursa, in northwestern Turkey.
"Providing nothing extraordinary happens in these two days, I will go to Bursa and support my favourite team," he told reporters before he left Yerevan for talks in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"I see no serious basis not to accept this invitation," he added, quoted by Turkish daily Zaman.
An Armenian head of state has not visited Turkey for ten years, although Gul attended a World Cup qualifying match last year in Yerevan.
Turkey and Armenia signed accords on Saturday to establish diplomatic relations and open their shared border. But the accords require ratification by both parliaments, a process that could yet be derailed by the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Armenian-backed breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan has criticised an agreement between Turkey and Armenia, saying it raises doubts about regional stability. Its government wants Armenia to withdraw troops from Nagorno-Karabakh and return land.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday the opening of his country's border with Armenia would be tied to progress on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey's accord has also been met by protests in Armenia, where many people say it does not fully address the 1915 killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians.
Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.
The agreement calls for a joint commission of independent historians to study the genocide issue.
Sarksyan said he had accepted an invitation by his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, to watch the match in Bursa, in northwestern Turkey.
"Providing nothing extraordinary happens in these two days, I will go to Bursa and support my favourite team," he told reporters before he left Yerevan for talks in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"I see no serious basis not to accept this invitation," he added, quoted by Turkish daily Zaman.
An Armenian head of state has not visited Turkey for ten years, although Gul attended a World Cup qualifying match last year in Yerevan.
Turkey and Armenia signed accords on Saturday to establish diplomatic relations and open their shared border. But the accords require ratification by both parliaments, a process that could yet be derailed by the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Armenian-backed breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan has criticised an agreement between Turkey and Armenia, saying it raises doubts about regional stability. Its government wants Armenia to withdraw troops from Nagorno-Karabakh and return land.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday the opening of his country's border with Armenia would be tied to progress on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey's accord has also been met by protests in Armenia, where many people say it does not fully address the 1915 killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians.
Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide, but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.
The agreement calls for a joint commission of independent historians to study the genocide issue.
Bookmark whit:
