Asbarez: Armenia, Turkey Agree on Land Border Crossing

Special envoys on normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, Ruben Rubinyan (left) and Serdar Kilic meet in Vienna on July 1


Special Representatives for the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan and Ambassador Serdar Kılıç held their fourth meeting in Vienna.

They agreed to enable the crossing of the land border between Armenia and Turkey by third-country citizens visiting Armenia and Turkey respectively at the earliest date possible and decided to initiate the necessary process to that end.

They also agreed on commencing direct air cargo trade between Armenia and Turkey at the earliest possible date and decided to initiate the necessary process to that effect.

Furthermore, they discussed other possible concrete steps that can be undertaken towards achieving the ultimate goal of full normalization between their respective countries.

Finally, they reemphasized their agreement to continue the normalization process without preconditions.

The Special Representatives previously held three meetings in Moscow and Vienna.

On Thursday, Rubinyan told reporters that Yerevan did not see much progress in the negotiation process with Ankara.

“Since the beginning of the process, Armenia has been very constructive, Armenia has the political will, and the success of this process depends on the political will of Turkey. As you can see, up to this point there has not been much progress,” he said, adding that certain announcements by Turkey’s leaders did not bode well for the progress of the talks.