One of those agreements calls for the opening of the Turkish-Armenia border for holders of Armenian or Turkish diplomatic passport as well as citizens of third countries. Another agreement reached by Turkish and Armenian negotiators envisaged air freight traffic between the two neighboring nations. There have been no signs of its implementation, even though the Turkish government officially allowed cargo shipments by air to and from Armenia in January 2023.
“The Armenian side is ready for a quick opening of that border both in the political sense and in terms of infrastructure,” Mirzoyan told a news conference. “The only missing component is the decision of the Turkish side.”
“As we can see, either tangible steps in this directions have not been taken or there is no end result,” he said.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week that no fresh negotiations are planned between Ankara and Yerevan.
Mirzoyan sounded optimistic about prospects for the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations as recently as in early November, two weeks after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Tehran. “We may have some good news on this front in the near future,” he told Armenian lawmakers.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian similarly expressed hope at the time that the border agreement will be implemented soon.
Pashinian attended Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inauguration in June. His domestic critics denounced the move, saying that Ankara will not unconditionally normalize Turkish-Armenian relations even after his unilateral concessions.
Speaking at a November summit of the leaders of Turkic states in Kazakhstan, Erdogan again demanded that Armenia open an extraterritorial corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. He said the corridor sought by Baku is important also because it would link Turkey to Central Asia which he described as “our ancestral homeland.” Ankara set this as a key precondition when it started normalization talks with Yerevan in early 2022.
Bagrat Estukian, an editor of the Istanbul-based Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, insisted on Wednesday that Erdogan is unlikely to change his policy on Armenia anytime soon.