Next border meeting between Turkiye, Armenia takes place

The fifth round of meetings between the special representatives for the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Turkiye, Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar K?l?ç, is taking place at the Armenia-Turkiye border, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlets.

It should be noted that earlier, it was reported that the negotiations would take place in the morning on the Armenian side and in the afternoon in the territory of Turkiye.

Additionally, it had been announced that the meeting of the special representatives would be held on July 3.

It should be recalled that the initiative to open the borders between Turkiye and Armenia was first proposed by the Armenian authorities. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan mentioned this during the discussion of the report on the implementation of the government's 5-year (2021-2026) program for 2023 in the country's Parliament.

According to him, appropriate efforts should be made in this direction.

"I can't help but touch on a socio-psychological nuance here. It is very important to note that I am not talking about the Armenia-Turkiye disputes, but about the relations between Armenia and Turkiye. These two formulas have common features."

The prime minister especially noted that relations between Armenia and Turkiye are currently on hold.

"Armenia is waiting for the implementation of the agreements reached and officially registered. In particular, we are talking about opening the land border between Armenia and Turkiye for citizens of third countries and persons with diplomatic passports.

In addition, it should be noted that with this initiative, Armenia is trying to restore relations with Turkey outside of Azerbaijan. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his speech that the restoration of relations between Turkiye and Armenia is possible after the signing of the peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan.

Recall that the borders between Turkiye and Armenia have been closed since April 3, 1993. After Armenia's occupation of Garabagkh, Turkiye closed its borders, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were suspended.

However, in July 2022, the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced that the two countries, in the context of a general thaw of their relationship, plan to reopen the border "at the earliest possible date," albeit only for third-party nationals.