Serge Sargsian hopes to go to Turkey in October through open borders

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Friday April 10, 2009

President Serge Sargsian. Photolure

Yerevan - Armenia's President Serge Sargsian stated on April 11 that in terms of Armenia-­Turkey relations, the ball is now in Turkey's court. He is also hopeful that Turkey will open the border with Armenia by October.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of his presidency, Mr. Sargsian held a press conference on April 11. Asked by the Armenian Reporter about the "red lines" the Armenian side would not cross in Turkish-Armenian relations, Mr. Sargsian said that Yerevan considers unacceptable the imposition, by Turkey, of preconditions for the establishment of relations.

"We have said, and I repeat, we are ready to establish relations without preconditions. Now, in my opinion, the ball is in Turkey's court," the president said.

"If we are talking about soccer diplomacy," the president continued, "then we must state that the ball cannot constantly be on one side of the field, and each soccer match has a predetermined time frame." The current round of talks with Turkey are spoken of as soccer diplomacy because Mr. Sargsian invited his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül, to Yerevan to watch the September 2008 Armenia-Turkey World Cup qualifying soccer match.

"Is it possible that we have perhaps miscalculated and the Turks have now adopted another position and are attempting to place a precondition on the table? Of course, this is possible," he said. "But I believe, even in that case, we will come out of the process much stronger. Through this process we were able to once again demonstrate, as was witnessed by the international community, that we are really prepared to establish relations without preconditions."

The next Armenia-Turkey World Cup qualifying match will be held in October in Kayseri, Mr. Gül's birthplace. Mr. Sargsian has accepted an invitation from Mr. Gül to attend.

"During the negotiation process, the question of Nagorno-Karabakh or the Genocide has never been brought up," the president said, referring to two pre-conditions long set by Turkey for the normalization of relations. He predicted that at the next soccer match, "I will either cross through open borders or we will be at that threshold."