ANKARA, Oct 17Chairman of the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (Parliament) Akif Çağatay Kılıç said that Ankara could once again resort to «football diplomacy» in the process of normalizing relations with Armenia. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan to the football match of the qualifying tournament for the World Cup between the national teams of Armenia and Turkey. Later, Sargsyan, at the suggestion of Gul, came to the return match Turkey — Armenia, which took place in October 2009 in the city of Bursa. Negotiations between the Armenian and Turkish delegations were also held there, followed by a meeting of the presidents, the process of normalizing relations, which was later interrupted due to the Karabakh conflict, was called «football diplomacy.» «March 25 in Armenia and in September in Turkey there will be football matches between the national teams of the two countries (as part of the qualification for Euro 2024 — ed.). Our team will go there, maybe we will go. The normalization process is positive. Positive dynamics are also observed in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This must be done without resorting to provocations,» Star newspaper quotes Kılıç as saying. There are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, the border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Ankara. Difficult relations between the countries are caused by a number of circumstances related, in particular, to Ankara's support for the Azerbaijani position on the Karabakh problem and Turkey's sharp reaction to the process of international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. On January 14, Moscow hosted the first meeting of special representatives for the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey — Deputy Chairman of the Armenian Parliament Ruben Rubinyan and former Turkish Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilych. As the Russian Foreign Ministry reported, the parties during the talks showed their readiness to conduct a dialogue in a constructive, non-politicized manner. Three more meetings were held in Vienna. Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that four meetings of special representatives for the normalization of relations were held in third countries, but in Prague, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reached an agreement to hold meetings in Turkey and Armenia.
