Gül’s Yerevan visit welcomed by all but extremists, opposition

A considerable number of columnists in the mainstream Turkish media have welcomed a probable visit on Saturday by President Abdullah Gül to Yerevan at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, to watch the World Cup qualifying game between the two countries’ national soccer teams, while extremist newspapers and opposition parties openly criticized the visit, saying it would harm Turkey’s image.

Yet, without any direct references to it, the visit has also gained backing from Turkey’s NATO ally, the United States.

The White House, commenting on a telephone conversation between US President George W. Bush and Gül, touched upon the recent thaw in relations between the two estranged neighbors.

The main focus of the conversation between Gül and Bush was Georgia and the Caucasus in general. The two underlined the importance of full compliance with a six-point European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the US’s National Security Council, said on Tuesday. “The two leaders also talked about their support for efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations and the growing Turkish-Iraqi relationship,” Johndroe said.

In Ankara, the Çankaya presidential palace said Gül had informed Bush about Ankara’s initiative for establishing a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. Proposed as a mechanism to develop conflict resolution methods among the Caucasus countries, the platform is planned to be made up of Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In Yerevan, Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz, the deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, met Sarksyan and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to discuss arrangements for Gül’s visit, according to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Almost all Turkish dailies yesterday covered the issue — some with news articles and some in columns. The Sabah daily quoted Turkish national team coach Fatih Terim as saying, “This is just a football match, not a war,” while the ultra-secularist Cumhuriyet daily preferred to quote a retired ambassador as saying it is the “wrong timing for a visit.”

Pro-business Hürriyet on its front page covered a call by the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) encouraging Gül to pay the expected visit, while Star daily quoted Samson Ozararat, who in the 1990s arranged a meeting between the late Alpaslan Türkeş and former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian. “It will be a big step even if they just sit and watch the match,” Ozararat was quoted as saying by Star.

Mustafa Karaalioğlu, editor-in-chief of Star daily, wrote in his column yesterday that Gül’s apparent decision to go to Yerevan is “an appropriate and delayed decision.”

Turkey should get rid of its taboos, both inside and outside of the country, Karaalioğlu wrote in his column, the title of which said “Gül must go … just as Sezer, Demirel and Özal should have gone,” listing names of former presidents and saying such a move should have come much earlier than now.

In Yerevan, Ter-Petrosian, now top leader of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), which is the country’s main opposition force, said he would welcome Gül’s visit. Ter-Petrosian, who has long championed a Turkey-Armenia rapprochement, said the match offered a good reason for thawing bilateral relations. Meanwhile, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) rallied several thousand supporters in Yerevan on Tuesday to oppose the visit and pledged to hold more such demonstrations during Gül’s expected visit.

Today’s Zaman

04.09.2008