Türkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday that a top diplomat and Armenia’s deputy parliamentary speaker met on the border of the two countries.
The meeting is the fifth of its kind between special representatives of the two countries assigned to normalize thorny relations.
Ambassador Serdar Kılıç and the National Assembly of Armenia Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan held their fifth meeting on the Alican-Margara crossing. "They reconfirmed the agreements reached at their previous meetings,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Furthermore, they agreed to assess the technical requirements to enable the functioning of the Akyaka/Akhurik railroad border gate in line with regional developments as well as to simplify their mutual visa procedures for diplomatic/official passport holders. Finally, they reemphasized their agreement to continue the normalization process without any preconditions toward achieving the ultimate goal of full normalization between their respective countries,” the statement added.
In an interview with Daily Sabah in March, Rubinyan expressed his country’s readiness to fully normalize relations. “If Türkiye and Armenia have political will, other factors should not matter. Furthermore, if we have progress in the Armenia-Türkiye process, this will undoubtedly influence positive developments both in the South Caucasus and the wider region, including the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process,” Rubinyan told Dilara Aslan Özer of Daily Sabah back then.
The two countries had little ties in the past, and relations were entirely cut off in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union as Armenia engaged in a conflict with Azerbaijan and occupied the territory of Karabakh. Türkiye is the closest ally of Azerbaijan. Türkiye and Armenia have also been at odds over their shared history. Armenia accuses Türkiye of “genocide” of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Türkiye rejects the accusations, though admits mass deaths of Armenians during their relocation amid World War I within Ottoman territories.
They shut down borders in 1993 after Armenia illegally took control of Karabakh and for years, remained hostile to each other. It was briefly opened in February 2023 to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid following the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye's southeast. There is already direct air traffic between the countries but the sides last year floated the idea of opening the land borders permanently.
In 2009, the two countries signed a peace accord as the first step to normalization, but it never fully materialized as the then administration in Yerevan faced domestic opposition to a deal with Türkiye. Under the current Pashinyan administration, the sides moved to regain momentum with a peace accord but it was only after Azerbaijan’s victory over the Armenians during the 2020 Karabakh war that cemented the will to move forward for normalization. Azerbaijan itself seeks a comprehensive peace deal with Armenia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have reiterated political will to normalize ties in a phone call in June. They confirmed the issues the two countries reached a settlement on, as they highlighted the importance of maintaining talks between the special representatives of the two neighboring countries. They also welcomed the dialogue between senior officials of both countries and discussed recent developments in the region and the international agenda.
Russia and Azerbaijan have voiced support for closer ties between Türkiye and Armenia, which is seen within the sphere of regional normalization but talks have been mostly at a standstill.
