InternationalTurkey moves the goalposts – by 350 miles
Published: Tuesday July 21, 2009
Turkey has moved the venue of the Armenia-Turkey soccer match scheduled for October 14, 2009. http://www.goalpostireland.com/
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Yerevan - The second qualifying soccer match between Armenia and Turkey for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will take place on October 14 in Bursa, Turkey, CNN Turk reports. The match was originally scheduled to take place in Kayseri.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul made an unprecedented six-hour visit to Armenia on September 6, 2008, at the invitation of Armenia's President Serge Sargsian, to watch the first qualifying match. Mr. Gul at the time invited Mr. Sargsian to the October 14 match.
To attend the October game, Mr. Sargsian had predicted on April 11, "I will either cross through open borders or we will be at that threshold."
Turkey closed its borders with Armenia 16 years ago. Direct travel is now possible by air; by land, it is necessary to go through a third country, typically Georgia. Talks aimed at the normalization of relations between the two countries were supposed to proceed without preconditions, Mr. Sargsian and U.S. diplomats have said repeatedly. However, since mid-April Turkey's prime minister has reiterated one of Turkey's longstanding preconditions for reopening the border; he has ruled out opening the border unless Armenia meets Azerbaijan's demands in the Karabakh settlement talks.
It was never very realistic to expect Mr. Sargsian to travel to the soccer game in Kayseri by land, since a road trip would take the better part of a day. But the new venue, Bursa, off the Marmara Sea, takes the possibility off the table entirely.
In any case, Mr. Sargsian had told the Wall Street Journal on April 20 that he would not go to the game unless the border were open or "on the eve of opening." Talks about normalizing relations are meanwhile stalled.
