Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is possible if talks between the special envoys of the two countries are successful, APA news agency reported on Friday.
Pashinyan’s remarks arrive amid a thaw in relations between the two countries after almost three decades of frozen ties.
“There is no such idea or agreement (for a meeting with Erdoğan). But if a negotiation process runs successfully with the participation of [Ruben] Rubinyan and the process matures up this point, it should be followed by a highest-level meeting,” Russian Sputnik news site cited Pashinyan as saying.
Although there is no agreement on a planned meeting with the Turkish leader, it cited Pashinyan as saying, such an encounter might take place if special representatives from both sides are successful in their negotiations.
Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced that the two countries would appoint special envoys to normalize relations and that Turkey would resume charter flights with Yerevan.
Ankara on Dec.15 appointed former ambassador to the United States, Serdar Kılıç, as special envoy to discuss steps for normalization of ties with Armenia.
Three days later, Armenia appointed deputy speaker of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan as its special representative for dialogue with Turkey.
Diplomatic relations between the countries have been suspended for 28 years due to Armenia’s extended military standoff with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in which Ankara sided with Baku. Two bilateral protocols were signed between Turkey and Armenia in Zurich in 2009 aimed at normalizing ties. They were never ratified by either of the country’s parliaments.