Turkey may once again turn to "football diplomacy" in order to normalize relations with Armenia, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish parliament Akif Cagatay Kilic announced
"The [Euro 2024 qualifying] matches between the national teams of the two countries will be held in Armenia on March 25 and in Turkey in September. Our team will go there, maybe we will go too. The normalization process is going well. Positive dynamics is observed in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations as well. This must be done without resorting to provocations," The Daily Star cited Kilic as saying.
In September 2008, then Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to attend a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup finals between the two nations in Yerevan. The two leaders watched the return leg of the match in the Turkish city of Bursa a year later. Negotiations between the Armenian and Turkish delegations were held there, followed by a meeting of the presidents. This normalization process was dubbed "football diplomacy.”
