Turkey, Armenia vow to end traditional enmity

YEREVAN - Armenia and Turkey pledged to overcome decades of enmity over the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces after Turkish President Abdullah Gul's path breaking visit to Yerevan for a football match.

Gul, the first Turkish president to visit Armenia, Saturday held talks with counterpart Serzh Sarkisian after which the two agreed there was the "political will" to improve ties frozen for decades over the 1915-1917 massacres by Turkish troops.

The visit was hailed by French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy as "courageous and historic."

"I believe that my visit was fruitful and that it promises hope for the future," Gul said after returning to Ankara, adding that he had a constructive and sincere" meeting with Sarkisian.

He said he had won Yerevan's support for a new regional grouping in the Caucasus following last month's conflict between Georgia and Russia.

"I was happy to see that we were unanimous with the Armenian side on the need for mutual dialogue to remove barriers to improving bilateral ties.

"I underlined that there is no problem that dialogue cannot solve..."

But in a sign of the uphill task ahead, Gul's arrival at Yerevan's Hrazdan stadium was greeted by loud boos and hisses by Armenian fans.

Amid tight security, Gul took his seat behind a special bullet-proof area. The far stronger Turkish side ended up winning the match 2-0.

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 a 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, holding aloft the Armenian flag and nationalist emblems.

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.

Some fans 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," said Ahmet Turkana, a Turkish activist from a pro-democracy group called Young Civilians over for the game, saying the game evoked nationalist passions.

"But today it's different. Football is here to unite, not to divide."

Sevak Sahakian, a Yerevan hotel worker, 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.