2 yıl önce

Türkiye, Armenia to open land border for visiting third country citizens

As special representatives for the normalisation process hold their fourth meeting in Vienna, the two countries also agree on commencing direct air cargo trade between them at the earliest.

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Turkish and Armenian officials also discussed other possible steps towards achieving the goal of full normalisation, the Turkish Foreign Ministry says.

Turkish and Armenian officials have agreed to open the land border for third country citizens visiting both countries as soon as possible, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said.

Envoys for the normalisation process between Ankara and Yerevan “agreed to enable the crossing of the land border between Türkiye and Armenia by third country citizens visiting Türkiye and Armenia respectively at the earliest date possible..,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

It was also decided to “initiate the necessary process to that end“.

The statement came after Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic and Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan, special representatives for the normalisation process, held their fourth meeting in Vienna, Austria’s capital.

“They also agreed on commencing direct air cargo trade between Türkiye and Armenia at the earliest possible date and decided to initiate the necessary process to that effect,” the statement said.

The Turkish and Armenian officials also “discussed other possible concrete steps that can be undertaken towards achieving the ultimate goal of full normalisation between their respective countries”, it added.

“Finally, they reemphasised their agreement to continue the normalisation process without preconditions,” the statement said.

Normalisation talks

The first round of normalisation talks was held in Moscow on January 14, where both parties agreed to continue negotiations without any preconditions, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Turkish and Armenian envoys met for the second time in Vienna on February 24, and the third meeting was held on May 3 in the Austrian capital.

Also, a historic bilateral meeting took place between the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Armenia on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on March 12.

As part of the efforts, Türkiye and Armenia have also resumed commercial flights as of February 2 after a two-year hiatus.

The two countries have been divided on a range of issues, including Armenia’s occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and 1915 events during the Ottoman Empire era. The border between the two neighbouring countries has been closed since 1993.

SOURCE: AA