The President of the Republic of Turkey should go to Erivan as invited by the President of Armenia but with a message from the Turkish people that should be published in Turkish and Armenian newspapers and perhaps in the American, European and the World media as well.

The invitation to attend the first match of the World Cup was first made in an article by the President of Armenia published in the Wall Street Journal on 9 July 2008. Armenians have used this method of communication with Turkey before, as manifested in a letter that was published in the Times of London back in1919, as will be referenced below. The official letter of invitation was delivered to the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia since there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.

First, the presence of the Turkish President at the Stadium will be comforting to the Turkish national soccer team. The whole world will watch the game that will hopefully pave the way to the Turkish team’s winning the World Cup that they missed in 2002 when they were the third-best. No one should expect otherwise since the population of Turkey is over 70 million and Armenia 3 million. Almost every Turkish Armenian interviewed on TV comfortably stated that Turkish team would win, many sith 2-1 score. Turkey will be playing the finals in 2010 in South Africa as Istanbul celebrates its selection as the Culture Capital of Europe the same year.

Second, hundreds of thousands of articles and books have been written on the Turkish-Armenian relations and April 24, 1915, issue to date which has not brought a solution to the issue, to some for obvious reasons. People are busy writing, reading, protesting one another in thousands of web sites, endlessly, without achieving the ultimate goal. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, the Armenians and the world have to come to their senses and solve this issue by listening to the Turkish side through the United Nations. The President of the Republic of Turkey could issue a letter to the Armenians in the Republic of Armenia and Armenians around the World, perhaps mentioning some of the facts suggested below:

The President of the Republic of Turkey can state that he is happy to be in Erivan on September 6 at the invitation of the President of Armenia to watch the soccer game between the two national teams, bringing them the greetings and the love of Turkish people from all over the world, Turkey and Anatolia that some of them also call as their ancestral home. The Turkish people have no hatred against the Armenian people which is falsely and purposely advocated in the western media and many Armenians in the diaspora. This visit may eventually pave the way to normalizing relations between the two states which can only happen if the following situation is corrected

1.  Armenian state and the diaspora should cease their efforts on the recognition of the alleged Armenian Genocide which is being carried out through distorted facts, fabrications and untruthful presentations. The events that led to the tragedy of 1915 where both sides suffered, were started by Armenian separatists and terrorists which as early as 1887 and continued through the First World War and the Turkish War of Independence. This is documented in a letter to the Times of London (January 27, 1919) by Boghos Nubar who was the representative of the Armenian committee at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, revealing for the record that the Armenians were “belligerents in a war”, not victims of genocide:

“…ever since the beginning of the(First World) war, the Armenians fought by the side of the Allies on all fronts. … the Armenians have been belligerents de facto since they indignantly refused to side with Turkey….Our volunteers fought in the French “Legion Etrangere” …. In the Legion d’Orient, they numbered over 5,000, and made up more than half the French contingent in Syria and Palestine…In the Caucasus, without mentioning the 150,000 Armenians in the Russian armies, about 50,000 Armenian volunteers under Andranik, Nazarbekoff, and others not only fought for four years for the cause of the Entente…At the moment when the fate of Armenia is being decided at the (Paris) Peace Conference, it is my duty, as the head of the National Delegation which has no tribute from which its voice can resound, to state once again, in the columns of The Times, the important part played by the Armenians in this frightful war. ”

2.  Armenian state should declare to the world that she has no territorial claims from the Turkish Republic and that they will amend their constitution removing the reference to Eastern Anatolia as ‘’Western Armenia.’’ Armenians should also give up their demands of compensation.

3. Armenian state should sign the declaration on the recognition of the existing borders that was requested by Turkey following the recognition of the Republic of Armenia established in 1991.

4.  Armenia has been illegally occupying Nagorno-Karabakh since 1993, despite a United Nations Resolution that demands their withdrawal, which they should abide.

Let the best team win but above all, the friendship between the peoples flourishes again fully which was the desire of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk also,  who stated back on 7 March 1920:

‘’Civilisation and the humanity should once more be enlightened regarding the alleged Armenian massacres and the purpose of the propaganda created to mislead the world. These are the results of resentment and anger from detestable and vicious accusations.’’

The President of the Republic of Turkey has an opportunity to tell his counterpart that Turks are ready and willing to solve to issue and that the Armenians should face the facts.

Yuksel Oktay
3 December 2008
Ankara