Ankara proposes Turkey-Armenia meeting in Yerevan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Sardar Kilic, Turkey’s special envoy for the normalization of ties with Armenia, has proposed Ruben Rubinyan, Yerevan’s representative, to held their next meeting in Yerevan, Sputnik Armenia reports.

Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Friday, March 1, Rubinyan said Armenia is ready to normalize relations with Turkey and unblock communications “even now”.

"If Serdar agrees, we can make an announcement today. I hope you’ll agree, and this forum will be historic. In July 2022, Serdar and I announced that we would be opening the land border to third-country nationals, and to diplomatic passport holders afterwards. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet,” Rubinyan said, adding that infrastructure on the Armenian side is ready.

He noted that if the two states want to normalize relations and reconcile, the peoples of the two countries must be in contact with each other. Isolation reinforces historical stereotypes and is not based on the interests of the parties, Rubinyan added.

This will have a positive impact on negotiations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan track, he added.

Kilich, in turn, suggested Rubinyan that thw two should meet in Yerevan next week and “make a historical event out of it.”

Rubinyan responded that he would discuss the date and place of the meeting with his colleague on Friday.

Armenia and Turkey in December 2021 named special envoys to discuss the normalization of ties. Four rounds of talks followed on January 14, February 24, May 3 and July 1.