Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called on Armenia to take confidence-building measures, as he noted that the special representatives from Türkiye and Armenia continue to hold normalization talks.
Speaking to the media in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, Çavuşoğlu said: "We have coordinately taken some steps on air cargo, opening our airspace as confidence-building steps. Armenia should also take sincere steps."
Ankara has been mending ties with several regional countries and has emphasized the need for enhanced cooperation, within this scope steps were also taken with Armenia, particularly following the latest Karabakh war between Baku and Yerevan.
In January, Türkiye and Armenia held the first round of talks in more than 10 years, describing them as "positive and constructive" and raising the prospect of restoring ties and reopening borders.
Ankara has not had diplomatic or commercial ties with Armenia since the 1990s. The latest initiative is the first attempt to restore links since a 2009 peace accord that was never ratified.
Despite Türkiye being one of the first countries to recognize Armenia's independence in 1991, the two countries have been divided on a range of issues, including Yerevan's occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the events of 1915 during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, and the border closure between the two neighboring countries since 1993.
In 2021, Ankara and Yerevan mutually appointed special representatives to normalize ties.
On the other side, Çavuşoğlu reaffirmed Türkiye's solidarity with Azerbaijan and said that there are still steps to be taken for the development of the liberated lands of Azerbaijan.
Reminding that the Russian peacekeeping mission is present at the Lachin corridor, Çavuşoğlu stressed that there is an "illegal” extraction and selling of the land resources belonging to Azerbaijan.
"It is against the international law ... and it means stealing the wealth of Azerbaijan,” he added.
The Lachin corridor is a road that links Armenia and the Karabakh region under an agreement that ended the 44-day war with Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020, when Baku liberated that region, located in the South Caucasus, from roughly three decades of Armenian occupation.
Emphasizing that the Russian mission in the region needs to "properly monitor the operation in Lachin corridor," he said: "They (Russia) have to do their part. It is Azerbaijan’s right in terms of law and justice, and in terms of standing against these illegal activities in its own territory."
He further affirmed that Türkiye and Azerbaijan are sincere about normalization and urged Armenia to sign a peace agreement soon.
On natural gas exports, Çavuşoğlu noted that some of the Azerbaijani gas is sold to Türkiye, and some of it is delivered to Europe via Türkiye.
"In order for Turkmenistan's natural gas to reach Türkiye, it must first come to Azerbaijan. The steps to be taken and cooperation for this should be for the benefit of all three countries," he said, adding that Ankara, Baku and Ashgabat are discussing the details of mutual agreement for such cooperation.
Çavuşoğlu also commented on the trilateral summit between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Turkmen leader Serdar Berdimuhamedov in the western Turkmen city of Awaza and described it "historic" not only due to the agreements signed but also due to its content.
The trio signed five agreements in various areas including trade, culture, energy, and transport, which aim to strengthen cooperation.
