Armenian, Turk presidents press 'soccer diplomacy'

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul in Paris, October 9, 2009. Presidents of Purkey and Armenia attend a World Cup soccer match on Wednesday courting popular support for an agreement to reopen their border and restore ties poisoned over a century of mutual hostility.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The presidents of Turkey and Armenia attend a World Cup soccer match on Wednesday, courting popular support for an agreement to reopen their border and restore ties poisoned by a century of hostility.

The agreement signed on Saturday could help stabilise the south Caucasus with its vulnerable energy corridor and ease Armenia's geographical isolation. Both parliaments must approve it. But it is resisted by nationalists in both countries as well as Turkish ally and oil and gas producer Azerbaijan.

Turkey and Armenia share a history of hostility stemming from the World War One mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, a defining element of Armenian national identity. Armenia says it was genocide, a term Turkey rejects.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan last year during the first leg of what has been called "soccer diplomacy". Neither team in the qualifier has a chance of making it to the World Cup finals, but the mere sight of the two presidents standing together would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

"Gul was received very well in Yerevan last year and if this visit ends in such good spirits, it could provide a good push to a process that will be long and difficult," said Sami Kohen, a columnist at Milliyet newspaper in Istanbul.

The game will also give the presidents a chance to discuss some of the thornier issues and potential pitfalls surrounding the protocols, including lands disputed by Azerbaijan and Armenia as well as popular opinion polarised by genocide claims.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan is under pressure from nationalists at home and, particularly, from diaspora Armenians not to deal with Ankara without a Turkish acknowledgement of genocide. Turkey for its part says thousands of Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed in partisan fighting.

TURKEY'S EU BID

Endorsement of the agreement, besides easing Armenia's economic plight, could only strengthen Turkey's EU membership bid and help along a gradual opening of the country's eastern borders extending to Syria, Iran and Iraq.

Turkey's EU candidacy progress report was scheduled for release on Wednesday in Brussels.

While Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said the protocols would be submitted to parliament next week, Kohen said the government may wait for development on the disputed territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh to satisfy Azerbaijan.

Turkey cut ties and shut its border with Armenia in 1993 over an uprising in Karabakh by ethnic Armenians who also seized a swathe of Azeri land around the territory.

Fighting ended in Karabakh with a ceasefire in 1994 after 30,000 were killed. Talks are under way over a final settlement.

A delegation of Azeri parliamentarians arrived in Ankara on Tuesday to hold talks with government officials, including Erdogan, on Wednesday.

(Writing by Thomas Grove; editing by Ralph Boulton)