Armenia: Football Diplomacy & Relations with Turkey

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.”

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…

The full post is available on Global Voices Online.