Armenia expressed hope on Monday that Turkey will adhere to agreements reached between the two in the ongoing effort to normalize relations between the two countries.
Armenia will soon complete the restoration of infrastructures in Margara and hopes that Turkey will likewise adhere to the agreement on opening the land border for diplomatic passport holders and citizens of third countries, Parliament Vice Speaker and Armenia’s special envoy for normalization with Turkey Ruben Rubinyan told reporters on Monday.
“The last agreement was that in the beginning of the tourism season the land border would be opened for citizens of third countries and diplomatic passport holders. The Armenian side is working to restore the relevant infrastructures in Margara. We will complete it very soon. And we hope that the Turkish side will also adhere to the agreement, and that the agreement will be implemented this summer,” Rubinyan said.
In the spring the sides announced that the land border would open in ahead of the summer tourist season, yet Ankara continued to create obstacles for the process to move forward. In May, then Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, threatened punitive actions against Armenia after the inauguration of a monument in Yerevan dedicated to the heroes of Operation Nemesis. Turkish authorities also banned overflights to Europe over Turkish airspace, citing the monument.
Turkish officials have also been vocal about supporting Azerbaijan in a scheme to open a land corridor through Armenia connecting to Azerbaijan. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey pledged that such a corridor — known as the “Zangezur Corridor” — will open soon, when he visited Baku earlier this month. This insistence and an overt support for Baku’s aggression toward Armenia and Artsakh have become Ankara’s approach to the so-called normalization process, which is based on talks “without preconditions.”
“When there’s a lack of trust in such processes, it is highly important for agreements to be implemented. If implemented, trust would increase, if not, it [the confidence] will naturally dissipate,” Rubinyan said, adding that he is in regular contact with his Turkish counterpart, Serdar Kilic.
