Armenia receives Turkey's president for six-hour visit

Thousands engage in civil protest

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Friday September 12, 2008

Abdullah Gül, center, is received by Serge Sargsian at the presidential palace in Yerevan as protestors invoke Armenian grievances against Turkey. Photolure

Yerevan - “I am from Kars,” “I am from Ardahan,” “I am from Van,” “I am from Igdir,” the placards read. Thousands of Armenians, mostly members and supporters of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun), formed a human chain lining the streets of central Yerevan along the route President Abdullah Gül of Turkey was expected to travel on September 6, on the first-ever visit of a Turkish president to Armenia. They were protesting Turkey’s denial of the Genocide and its anti-Armenian policies.

Anahit Berberian, whose ancestors had lost their home and property in Van stood on Baghramian Avenue and held up a poster which read, “My homeland is near lake Van.”

“Unfortunately I have seen Van only in pictures. I believe that if I go to Van it will intensify the pain of having lost a fatherland,” she told the Armenian Reporter while holding the placard in her hand, waiting for Mr. Gül.

Armineh Khachaturian’s roots are from Kars. When asked her why they were not protesting against President Serge Sargsian, as he was the one who had invited Mr. Gül, Ms. Khachaturian said that Mr. Gül had only been invited to watch soccer.

“Wherever Gül goes, Armenians protest, and it would have been disgraceful if there were no protests in Armenia. I have been raised in a Western-Armenian family. My grandmother and grandfather were raised in an American orphanage. They lost their parents during the Genocide. Up until the day she died, my grandmother would see the Genocide in her dreams and wake up from them. Even in her dreams she was running from the Turks,” she said.

Flags side by side

On September 6, under the shadow of Mount Ararat, an Airbus A-319 with the red Turkish flag on its tail, landed at Zvartnots Airport. The airplane brought President Gül to Armenia.

With a broad smile under his mustache, Mr. Gül walked down the steps. On September 3, after a meeting of Turkey’s national security council, Mr. Gül, who for two months had told journalists no decision had been made, finally found the courage to accept his Armenian counterpart Mr. Sargsian’s no-less-brave invitation to visit Yerevan and watch the match between the national teams of their two countries together.

Under the whistles and calls for “recognition” of demonstrators, Mr. Gül and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian of Armenia, who had greeted him on the tarmac of Zvartnots International Airport, sat in a bulletproof car, which had been specially sent from Turkey, and drove away. The Armenian authorities had done everything in their power to keep Mr. Gül as far as possible from the protest actions of the ARF, which is a coalition partner in the government.

Armen Rustamian, representative of the Supreme Council of the ARF, explained to Turkish journalists that the protests were neither against the invitation of the Armenian president, nor against Mr. Gül’s visit.

“An important step”

“On the contrary, we consider this an important step for Armenian-Turkish relations. We want the Turkish president to have a very clear understanding of those issues which worry the Armenian nation and which need to be resolved. The priority is the recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” said Mr. Rustamian.

In general, Mr. Gül’s visit did not cause protests in Armenia’s political and social arenas, except for the ARF and like-minded media.

Most Armenian dailies carried an advertisement in Armenian and English which read, “Welcome Honorable President Abdullah Gül. Fair play beyond 90 minutes. That’s our wish.” This full-page ad was placed by companies affiliated with Argentinian-Armenian businessperson Eduardo Eurnekian, including Zvartnots Armenian International Airports and Converse Bank. Some of those dailies that ran the ad are usually ready to tear apart anyone who talks about the necessity to stabilize Armenian-Turkish relations and would dispute former President Robert Kocharian’s insistence that Armenians and Turks are incompatible.

A few days before the September 6 match, the Armenian Football Federation unexpectedly changed its logo: whereas the previous logo had included a representation of Mount Ararat, which is one of the Armenian nation’s symbols and is in the territory of present-day Turkey, the new one portrayed a soccer ball over Armenia’s coat of arms. During the past few months, Armenian television stations have broadcast very little that is anti-Turkey.

Opposition figure Levon Ter-Petrossian also praised Mr. Sargsian’s invitation and Mr. Gül’s decision to visit. “I can only welcome Gül’s invitation, especially because it is a convenient opportunity. There are no political intrigues at play, only a sporting event that may provide the conduit to begin melting the ice,” Mr. Ter-Petrossian said at a news conference on December 2. “It is strange that no high-ranking Turkish official has ever come to Armenia. I went to Turkey three times as Armenia’s president and [former president] Robert Kocharian also went. Armenian presidents have been in Turkey four times, and not one high-ranking Turkish official has ever been to Armenia. This is not a normal phenomenon nor is it normal relations,” Mr. Ter-Petrossian added.

Mr. Kocharian earlier had said that if he had been president, he would not have invited Mr. Gül to Armenia.