Armenia: Football Diplomacy & Relations with Turkey · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

A number of World Cup qualifying matches were played worldwide on Saturday, but even if Georgia was drawn against Ireland and had to move the venue for the football match to Germany following the war with Russia, many were instead interested in what might prove to be a historic political rather than sporting event. Without diplomatic relations or an open border, Armenia played against estranged neighbor Turkey in its capital, Yerevan.
Moreover, despite historical grievances over the 1915 massacre and deportation of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan to watch the match alongside his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sargsyan. Armenians and many historians consider the killings to be Genocide while Turkey denies the claims. Many were therefore quick to describe Gul's arrival an exercise in “football diplomacy.”
Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Unzipped, for example, realized the significance of the match as long ago as November when the draw was first made.
Fantastic draw! That will be THE matches! I will do whatever possible or impossible to be present there. Hope that Armenian and Turkish fans will behave, and we won't witness any ugly scenes, but rather will celebrate the occasion to get to know each other better and use sporting spirit for reconciliation (not destruction!), and a pint of beer? It's funny that football draws frequently bring us with ‘sensitive’ outcomes. It's more than a fate…
Later, in July when the invitation for Gul to attend the match was made, Unzipped applauded the move. Despite previous criticism of Armenia's new president who took power after a flawed election in February and a 20-day State of Emergency after at least 10 people died in post-election clashes with police, the blog hoped that the football match could represent a new start in relations between the two countries.
This is the most straightforward gesture to date from a head of state in Armenia to propose Turkey to open up a new page in relationships. Overall, I welcome this proposal. It is courageous and right thing to do from Serj Sargsyan side.
As the date of the match — 6 September — drew closer, other bloggers began to speculate on what led up the possibility of the Turkish President stepping foot on Armenian soil. One of those was West of Igdir which also started to comment on what would undoubtedly prove to be an unprecedented and historic occasion if Gul arrived in Yerevan.
As it stands we are a mere four days away from the much-heralded soccer diplomacy and leaves everyone asking “what's going to happen?” Officially, we don't even know if Gul is going or not. Sargsyan extended his invitation months ago, shortly after secret talks in Switzerland were leaked to the public, but Gul has yet to officially respond. […]
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No matter what, it seems this historic and extremely improbable visit will be going through after all. With confirmations from just about everyone but President Gul himself, with Turkish special forces apparently already on the ground in Yerevan preparing for his protection, there is little reason to think otherwise.
Not everyone was happy with the thought of Turkey's president arriving in Armenia, however. Last Tuesday, for example, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) staged a rally in Yerevan to mark the 17th Anniversary of Independence being declared in the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh. Although poorly attended, the nationalist political party threatened to stage street protests if Gul arrived.
ARF-D Demonstration, Zvartnots Airport, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
A few days before the match when Turkey finally announced that he would, the ARF-D were adamant that such protests would occur. However, on the day of the football game itself, Unzipped found that not many Armenians appeared eager to participate.
Particularly, Dashnaks (via Yerkir newspaper) call all supporters to gather today at Zvartnots airport and surrounding areas at 5pm local time to ‘greet’ Turkey’s president upon arrival.
Dashnaks also drive around central Yerevan streets today urging people via loudspeakers to join their protest actions. Few seem enthusiastic to do so.
Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
And as it happened, the protests were indeed small, with most Armenians viewing the event merely as a sporting one. Even so, the political ramifications of the match were obvious. Turkey won 2-0 amid high security and although the performance of the Armenian team disappointed many, the precedent had been set for building upon what some consider a brave and historic move by both presidents.
Everything related to this much – in the build up to this game – was more about politics than actual football. Perhaps, this was the most politically colored football match ever. The funny thing is that as soon as the game started, politics became something very secondary to me, I did not even feel the presence of Turkish and Armenian presidents side by side watching the match. It was all about sport for me, again, at last.
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The good thing is that despite worries of possible nationalist outburst or ugly scenes, nothing of that sort happened. Security was pretty tight, at least in terms of numbers one could spot. Even plastic bottles were not allowed inside the stadium. Things went well, overall, except perhaps booing when the national anthem of Turkey played on. […]
Back to the football diplomacy. The day passed. At least on surface things seem went well. Follow-up practical actions, if any, will determine whether football diplomacy worked. I sincerely hope so.
Talk Turkey also welcomed the move.
[…] Although there have been opposition in Turkey about this historic visit, and no doubt the same on the Armenian side, this visit couldn’t have come at a better time.
With the ongoing Russian restructuring and its hopes of revitalizing the Soviet empire, closer relations between affected neighboring countries are very critical in any normal setting. Then there’s the issue of reconciling differences regarding the ‘Genocide’ matter. And the hope for a closer dialogue without the presence of any third parties whose justification for their own existence is the continuation of the very same discord they supposedly are for ending.
A good start . . .
Writing a day after the match, West of Igdir says that despite opposition to the football match from nationalists on both sides, there can be no other way forwards. The blog makes specific reference to the Armenian Diaspora which is more vocal and heated in its condemnation of Turkey than their local counterparts.
[…] I think the best thing for the diaspora to do is watch how this goes between the governments and assess the results. No reason to stand in its way, the diaspora must and will remain strong but at the same time should adopt this spirit of friendship. There's nothing I hate more than stories of Armenians in the diaspora meeting Turks and saying something mean or irrational at them as soon as they hear they are a Turk. That's small minded and applying the same sort of racist idealogy on them as the Young Turks did to our ancestors.
Turkish Fans, Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Ironcially, however, citing additional security concerns, only a handful of Turkish fans were given the opportunity to travel to Armenia for the game as Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences explains. The specialist blog also says it believes education is key to resolving some of the many outstanding issues which are still obstacles to normalizing relations.
[…] today’s match will unfortunately fail to deliver as Turkey’s authorities have refused to let their football fans cross the border into Armenia. The Armenian president will meet his Turkish counterpart but Armenian football fans and Yerevan residents in general won’t have the opportunity to meet Turkish supporters.
But, with an invitation from Gul extended to his Armenian counterpart to attend the rematch next year, Talk Turkey makes special reference to Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist and writer who was gunned down in Istanbul last year. It is time, the blog says, for citizens on both sides of the border to reach out to each other.
[…] Abdullah Gul invited the Armenian President to watch the rematch in Turkey. Wouldn’t it be great if the Turkish people, including its Armenian citizens, all show up in support of Armenia, wearing ‘We Are All Armenians’ shirts, as they did immediately following Hrant Dink’s murder.
Time to rise to the occasion. What do you think?
The sports diplomacy, as was the earthquake diplomacy between Greece and Turkey recently, is a great excuse for the parties to start the dialogue and improve relations, and put an end to the stalemate of ridiculousness once and for all.
Yet, while many Armenians and Turks hope that Saturday's match could mark the way forwards, others such as Petites et Grandes Aventures were unimpressed by the match from a sporting perspective. True, the blog says, the match was historic, but there were many problems highlighted that still need to be resolved. Moreover, the fact that they weren't made the match somewhat boring.
Earlier in the day I had met a few dedicated Turkish fans who had driven all the way – 12 hours via Georgia. But in the end, they were only a handful. And the few planes that were chartered from Istanbul, I was told, were full with Armenians living in Istanbul – not Turks.
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But back to the game. No, I'm not biased.
It's actually a rather boring game, neither Armenia nor Turkey plays particularly well. Turkey scores twice, much to the disappointment of Armenian fans. The less than 100 Turkish fans parked in one corner of the stadium have no chance to make their voices heard and both times the Turks score the stadium is silent. So much so, I both times have to ask my neighbour, a Japanese political correspondent based in Cairo looking rather bored, if this was actually a goal. […]
More photographs and commentary are on my The Caucasian Knot.
Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008