Football match and visa-free travel = 20,000 - 25,000 Turkish visitors to Armenia / Ermenistan'dan "vize" jesti

My first stop in Yerevan would be to this place: (from Wikipedia)

The Matenadaran or Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan, Armenia, is one of the richest depositories of manuscripts and books in the world. The collection dates back to 405, when Saint Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet.

Here's an example of sport bringing about events in politics that otherwise wouldn't happen.

Ermenistan'dan "vize" jesti

Visa "gesture" from Armenia

Ermenistan yönetimi, dünya kupası elemeleri çerçevesinde 6 Eylül'de Erivan'da oynanılacak Ermenistan-Türkiye maçını izleyecek Türk vatandaşlarına yönelik vize zorunluluğunu, 1-6 Eylül tarihleri arasında kaldırdı.

The government of Armenia has removed visa requirements for Turkish nationals between the 1st and 6th of September who will be following the match between Armenia and Turkey in Yerevan, as part of the preliminaries for the World Cup.

Projenin 1 Eylül'den itibaren başlatılmasının çok erken olup olmadığının sorulması üzerine, Ermenistan Polis Müdürü Alik Sargsyan, Türkiye'den Ermenistan'ı ziyaret etmek üzere 20 ila 25 bin Türk vatandaşının beklendiğini ve büyük bir olasılıkla ziyaretçilerden bazılarının bir kaç gün daha kalıp şehirde turlara katılacaklarını söyledi.

In response to a question about whether starting from the 1st of September was too early a date, Armenian Police Chief Alik Sargsyan said that they were expecting in between 20,000 and 25,000 Turkish nationals and that there was a large chance that some of the visitors would stay a few days and participate in tours of the city.


Just to show how close Yerevan is to the Turkish border, here it is:

The actual distance from Yerevan to the Turkish border is 16 km. I and many others have walked up to 30 km in a day, so half that distance really is next to nothing.