Turkey considers launching flights to Armenian regional centers
YEREVAN, January 25. /ARKA/. Turkish authorities are considering the launch of direct flights to various regions of Armenia in addition to its capital Yerevan in a bid to expand trade ties with Armenia, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported citing a story in the Turkish daily Hüriyyet, which in turn cited closed-door foreign policy discussions held by the Turkish presidential administration.
Earlier, Turkey's civil aviation authority said that Turkey and Armenia will start operating three weekly flights between Yerevan and Istanbul starting February 2.
"As a first step, it was decided to open air communication with Armenia. Next on the agenda will be flights to other regions of the country in addition to capital Yerevan. In particular, the city of Van may turn into a tourist center for Armenians. In the meantime, some historic buildings, such as the bridge and buildings near the city of Kars, to which Armenians attach great importance, are to be restored. To ease the pressure of the Armenian Diaspora, trade ties will be expanded at the same time," the Turkish newspaper wrote.
Earlier Armenian and Turkish aviation authorities issued permits to FlyOne Armenia (Armenia) and Pegasus Airlines (Turkey) to fly between Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan.
Speaking at an online news conference on January 24 evening, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was optimistic about the prospects of establishing Armenian-Turkish diplomatic relations, noting that it would be illogical to miss the opportunity to establish communication with Armenia’s neighbor.
‘The entire international community is helping normalize Armenian-Turkish relations: Russia, the EU, the U.S., and the countries of the region are very interested," he said.
The Turkish and Armenian sides described the first meeting between the Deputy Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan, appointed as Armenia’s special envoy to negotiate normalization of relations with Turkey and his Turkish vis-a-vis- Serdar Kilic held January 14 in Moscow as ‘ positive and held constructive atmosphere.’
The envoys were said to exchange their preliminary views regarding the normalization process through dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. The parties agreed to continue negotiations without preconditions aiming at full normalization.
The date and the venue of their second meeting will be decided in due time through diplomatic channels.
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-
