“We will show the Armenian team our best hospitality,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated at his ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) group meeting, Turkish Zaman daily reports.

According to the newspaper, Prime Minister Erdogan also urged soccer fans to forget politics when Turkey and Armenia face each other in a World Cup qualifier, as the two neighbors aim to restore diplomatic ties. “The Armenian president and the Armenian national team will see what Turkish hospitality is,” Erdogan noted expressing a hope that soccer fans in Bursa and in the rest of the country will behave like respectable fans.

Meanwhile, authorities are implementing tight security measures to avoid possible provocations during the game. According to sources, people will not be allowed to buy tickets for the match; instead, authorities will control ticket distribution. The governor of Bursa has said Azerbaijani flags will not be allowed into the stadium for the match, but Turkish nationalists have made some 10,000 of the flags and are distributing them in Bursa, Zaman informs.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has confirmed that he will attend a World Cup qualifier in Turkey. Turkish President Abdullah Gul went to Yerevan last year on the first leg of what has been called “soccer diplomacy” between the two countries.

Despite having signed accords on Saturday to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their border, Turkey's demands for progress on the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan, could see efforts to end a century of hostility between Turkey and Armenia stalled for months to come. Turkey shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan, which was then fighting a losing battle against Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, the daily says.

The two countries share a history of hostility stemming from the World War I mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Armenia says it was genocide, a term Turkey rejects, Zaman reads.