Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday urged soccer fans to keep politics away when Turkey and Armenia face each other on the pitch 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," Erdoğan told deputies of his ruling AK Party ahead of the game in the city of Bursa.

"I know our soccer fans in Bursa and in the rest of the country will behave like respectable fans. I believe our country and the citizens of Bursa will not bow their heads to politics and to the aims of those who want to use the game to achieve something else," Erdoğan said, Reuters reported.