By Asbarez | Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (left) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Abdulla Gul
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—President Serzh Sarkisian congratulated his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on Turkey’s main national holiday that was celebrated on Tuesday.
Sarkisian’s office gave no details of Sarkisian’s congratulatory letter to Gul sent on the occasion of Turkey’s Republic Day.
The holiday is dedicated to the formal establishment of the modern-day Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923.
The presidents of the two neighboring countries, which have no diplomatic relations, have sent each other congratulatory messages even after the collapse of the Turkish-Armenian normalization process initiated by them in 2008.
In particular, Gul congratulated Sarkisian on winning a second term in office in last February’s Armenian presidential election. The move prompted strong criticism from Azerbaijan, with senior aides to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev demanding an official explanation from Ankara. One of them said the Turkish congratulation amounted to a show of “moral, political and ideological support” for Sarkisian.
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