Armenia ready to open border with Turkey tomorrow – envoy for normalization of relations

YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. Armenia is ready to open its borders with Turkey and establish diplomatic relations tomorrow, Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia's special representative for the normalization of relations with Turkey, said in an interview with Radio Azatutyun.

"If Armenia is ready for this - it means that the issue of implementation depends on Turkey's political will, because Armenia obviously demonstrates such political will," Rubinyan said.

He noted that during his meetings with the Turkish counterpart he discussed steps that would lead to the opening of borders and the establishment of diplomatic relations. The agreement to open the borders for citizens of third countries is within that logic, Rubinyan said.

On Monday Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated in a phone call Turkish President on Kurban Bayram, and the latter congratulated the Prime Minister on the upcoming Vardavar-Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

The leaders were said to have emphasized the importance they attach to the bilateral normalization process between their respective countries which will also contribute to the strengthening of peace and stability in the region.
In this context they expressed their expectation for the early implementation of the agreements reached during the meeting between the Special Representatives of their countries on July 1.

On July 1, special envoys of Armenia and Turkey for normalization of relations - Ruben Rubinyan of Armenia and Serdar Kilic of Turkey - agreed during their fourth meeting in Vienna to enable the crossing of the land border between Armenia and Turkey by third-country citizens visiting Armenia and Turkey respectively at the earliest date possible and decided to initiate the necessary process to that end.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said they also agreed on commencing direct air cargo trade between Armenia and Turkey at the earliest possible date and decided to initiate the necessary process to that effect.

Furthermore, they discussed other possible concrete steps that can be undertaken towards achieving the ultimate goal of full normalization between their respective countries.

Finally, they reemphasized their agreement to continue the normalization process without preconditions.

The first round of talks was held in Moscow on Jan. 14, where both parties agreed to continue negotiations without any preconditions. The Turkish and Armenian envoys met for the second and third time in Vienna on Feb. 24 and May 3, 2022.

Although Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet Union, the countries have no diplomatic ties and Turkey shut down their common border in 1993, in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Turkey also refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide, committed during 1915-1923 when an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman government. The overwhelming majority of historians widely view the event as genocide.

In 2009, Ankara and Yerevan reached an agreement in Zurich to establish diplomatic relations and to open their joint border, but Turkey later said it could not ratify the deal until Armenia withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of Nagorno-Karabakh. -0-