Serdar Kilic and his team during their visit to Kars Province
Ankara’s special envoy on normalization of relations with Armenia, Serdar Kilic, visited Kars Province—which borders Armenia—with his team on Sunday, Gazetekars reported.
Kilic visited the ruins of Ani, the currently non-functioning Turkish checkpoint at Akyaka village at the border with Armenia, a short distance from which are Akhurik village of Armenia’s Shirak Province and the border checkpoint on the Armenian side.
Kilic met with his Armenian counterpart Ruben Rubinyan on July 1 in Vienna, where they reached an agreement to open the land border between Armenia and Turkey to citizens of third party country and to start direct air cargo transportation.
Since the meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a telephone conversation with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, with both leaders reportedly discussing the Vienna agreements. Pashinyan also ordered relevant state agencies to begin implementing of the deal “as quickly as possible.”
The negotiations between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations began earlier this year, with both sides declaring that the talks were being held “without preconditions.”
Last week, however, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, voiced Ankara’s preconditions, demanding Yerevan sign a peace accord with Baku and the immediate opening of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor,” a scheme being advanced by Azerbaijan that envisions a land corridor through Armenia connecting mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan. Yerevan has opposed this plan.
Presumably to set the process in motion Turkey began de-mining the border area and has contracted an Israeli company to carry out the tasks, according Gazetekars newspaper, which reported that de-mining activities have not been officially confirmed by Ankara. Armenia, on the other hand, announced that it has not begun a de-mining effort.
On Sunday, a mine exploded on the Turkish side of the border during de-mining operations, injuring a worker who was taken to the hosiptal.
According to Karsolay news agency, the explosion occurred in the coastal area of Arpacay in Kars.