“The border between Armenia and Turkey may open sooner than the sides manage to appoint new envoys.”
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said this after his meeting with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis, in response to a question about the appointment of a new envoy in the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.
Mirzoyan stressed that the ultimate goal of the Armenian-Turkish normalization is the full normalization of relations and the full opening of the border.
“Frankly speaking, the question is whether there is a need for a new envoy or not, because it may happen that the opening of the border takes place sooner than agreement on the candidacies of new envoys. The process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations has matured to an extent that a final and full normalization may be reached any day. Armenia and Turkey are in almost daily contact, and the negotiations are ongoing continuously,” he noted.
According to Mirzoyan, negotiations, as a rule, are not presented to the public in full as long as there is no final agreement and result. According to the minister, the Armenia-Turkey negotiations are no exception either.
“Now the need has arisen to continue, and there will be an Armenia-Turkey business forum, perhaps broader than the previous one, this time in Armenia. I hope that this time too the closed border will be opened, and Armenian businessmen will pass through it. In the process of Armenian-Turkish normalization, although there are already certain agreements and practical results, the full normalization is not yet complete,” he noted.
