Turkey/Armenia

Gul's landmark visit to Armenia

Article published on the 2008-09-06 Latest update 2008-09-08 08:17 TU

Protests in Armenia.
(Photo: REUTERS/Nazik Armenakian (ARMENIA)

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul has arrived in neighbouring Armenia - the first Turkish leader ever to set foot in the country since its independence. He will be watching a football match with Armenian president President Serzh Sarkisian.

On the agenda are talks that could pave the way for closer ties between the two neighbours, as Turkey and former Soviet republic Armenia have no diplomatic relations.

Turkey has refused to recognise the First World War massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Army as a genocide, in which up to one and a half million Armenians are believed to have died.

Before leaving Ankara, Gul said he hoped Saturday's match would help lift the barriers that divided the two nations, which have no diplomatic ties.

Correspondent Nicole Pope told RFI that the visit could increase Turkey's weight in the region.

"Turkey has been playing a role in the Caucuses and it certainly is trying to prevent things in the Caucuses deteriorating any further, so Turkey's trying to talk both to Russia and to Georgia...to promote some regional pact which would be boosted if it could bring Armenia on board," she said.

 

 

Landlocked Armenia could also derive enormous benefits from the opening of the border with Turkey, as well as the restoration of a major rail link.

With the normal route via Georgia taken by pipelines shipping oil and gas from the Caspian Sea looking vulnerable after the Russian invasion, Armenia could be an attractive alternative.