Armenia and Türkiye may soon take the first serious steps to open borders and organize cross-border trade. The Sabah newspaper reported this, citing Turkish diplomatic sources. Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that he was ready to hold a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
He recalled that a similar meeting had already taken place in Antalya. In addition, Çavuşoğlu recalled the agreement at the highest level to hold negotiations on the normalization of relations either in Armenia or in Turkey. As the publication notes, in light of the agreements of the special representatives of the two countries on the normalization of relations - Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic, reached at the last meeting in Vienna, In Turkey, it is planned to hold expert negotiations as soon as possible to discuss the issue of opening the border between the two countries and establishing cross-border trade. Once a decision is made to open the border, the Akyaka checkpoint (in Turkey) will be operational within a month, the publication says.
Diplomatic sources positively assess the latest developments related to the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey. At the same time, they link the opening of the border between the two countries with the conclusion of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku.
The border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Ankara. Difficult relations between the countries are caused by a number of circumstances related, in particular, to Ankara’s support for the Azerbaijani position in the Karabakh problem and Turkey’s acute reaction to the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. In December 2021, Armenia and Turkey appointed their special representatives for negotiations on normalization of bilateral relations. On the Armenian side, they are Vice-Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan; Ankara is represented by former Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic. Diplomats have already held four rounds of negotiations, the first meeting took place in Moscow, the remaining three in Vienna. In addition, the first telephone conversation between the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Turkey took place in July.
He recalled that a similar meeting had already taken place in Antalya. In addition, Çavuşoğlu recalled the agreement at the highest level to hold negotiations on the normalization of relations either in Armenia or in Turkey. As the publication notes, in light of the agreements of the special representatives of the two countries on the normalization of relations - Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic, reached at the last meeting in Vienna, In Turkey, it is planned to hold expert negotiations as soon as possible to discuss the issue of opening the border between the two countries and establishing cross-border trade. Once a decision is made to open the border, the Akyaka checkpoint (in Turkey) will be operational within a month, the publication says.
Diplomatic sources positively assess the latest developments related to the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey. At the same time, they link the opening of the border between the two countries with the conclusion of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku.
The border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Ankara. Difficult relations between the countries are caused by a number of circumstances related, in particular, to Ankara’s support for the Azerbaijani position in the Karabakh problem and Turkey’s acute reaction to the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. In December 2021, Armenia and Turkey appointed their special representatives for negotiations on normalization of bilateral relations. On the Armenian side, they are Vice-Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan; Ankara is represented by former Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic. Diplomats have already held four rounds of negotiations, the first meeting took place in Moscow, the remaining three in Vienna. In addition, the first telephone conversation between the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Turkey took place in July.
