This refers to the first meeting between the special representatives of these countries after a two-year break, where both sides reaffirmed their commitment to previously reached agreements and announced an agreement to restore the railway border crossing between Türkiye and Armenia.
As previously reported, the meeting between Türkiye’s special representative, Serdar Kılıç, and Armenia’s Ruben Rubinyan, took place at the restored and operational border crossing “Alican.” The sole agreement reached by the special representatives of Ankara and Yerevan in earlier negotiations involved opening the border for third-country citizens specifically through the “Alican” crossing. However, the Turkish side had postponed its implementation.
Ankara has repeatedly stated that the process of normalizing its relations with Armenia will be coordinated with Azerbaijan and depend on achieving peace between Yerevan and Baku. Therefore, experts in both Baku and Yerevan did not expect any concrete results from the meeting between Türkiye and Armenia’s special representatives.
For instance, Armenian Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan stated before the meeting that significant progress in normalizing relations between Türkiye and Armenia should not be expected. According to Safrastyan, Türkiye has repeatedly declared that this will not happen until Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a peace treaty, indicating that the opening of the Armenia-Türkiye border should not be anticipated at this stage.
“Türkiye will not proceed with this, as it has already announced the corresponding decision,” the Armenian expert asserted.
A high-ranking diplomat in Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters before the meeting between Serdar Kılıç and Ruben Rubinyan that after nearly a two-year hiatus, the parties would once again attempt to normalize relations. He emphasized, without going into details, that during the fifth meeting, the special representatives would discuss issues aimed at enhancing mutual trust.
This morning, Kılıç and his delegation crossed the border and entered Armenia to meet with the Armenian delegation. Accompanied by Ruben Rubinyan, Kılıç inspected the restored “Alican” border crossing, after which negotiations began and lasted several hours. In the afternoon, the special representatives moved to the Turkish side to continue discussions.
The final message disseminated by Türkiyey’s Foreign Ministry stated that the special representatives reaffirmed the agreements reached at previous meetings. Additionally, the parties agreed to assess the technical requirements in preparation for the possible restoration of the “Akyağa” railway crossing between Türkiye and Armenia, depending on “the course of regional processes.”
Furthermore, an easing of the visa regime for holders of diplomatic and service passports was agreed upon. The special representatives expressed their commitment to continuing the normalization process between the two countries without setting preconditions.
Observers note that Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry statement did not mention the previously reached agreement to open the “Alican” border crossing for third-country citizens with diplomatic passports. This suggests that while Türkiye has resumed the normalization process with Armenia, it is not in a hurry to take specific steps and is likely waiting for real actions from Yerevan towards signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.
Despite the agreement to begin technical preparations for restoring the “Akyağa” railway crossing, Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that its opening would depend on “developments in the region,” implying that the restoration of the railway connection between Türkiye and Armenia would depend on the unblocking of the Zangezur corridor, which would ensure direct railway communication between Türkiye and Azerbaijan via Nakhchivan.
Elyas Shafiyev
Translated from haqqin.az
