Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Friday said that Yerevan and Ankara have agreed to jointly assess the technical requirements for crossing the border via the Gyumri-Kars railway.
Speaking at, and chairing, an online session of the foreign ministers’ summit of the Black Seas Economic Cooperation on Friday, Mirzoyan said that the ongoing dialogue with Ankara was based on Yerevan’s commitment to advance the so-called “Crossroads for Peace” plan.
“Driven by the firm belief that regional dialogue is key to establishing mutually beneficial collaboration, the Government of Armenia has introduced the ‘Crossroads of Peace’ initiative,” Mirzoyan prefaced his remarks regarding the Turkey-Armenia transit option.
“With Turkey, we have already agreed to jointly assess the technical requirements for the border crossing by the Gyumri-Kars railway, while at the same time we have proposed to Azerbaijan modalities of relaunching our rail infrastructure, simplifying border crossing and customs procedures and providing some additional insurance mechanisms,” Mirzoyan said.
“By placing a significant emphasis on building mutual trust and possible enhanced connectivity as the foundation for peace, the ‘Crossroads of Peace Project’ has the potential to foster regional cooperation on multiple fronts,” he said.
“It could efficiently link the Gulf, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, thus significantly contributing to the integration of our region into global transport chains and bringing enormous benefits to all countries of our region. The Project has already received positive reactions from numerous international partners, and we will continue our efforts to consolidate further support towards its implementation,” Mirzoyan added.
Yerevan’s chief envoy on Armenia-Turkey normalization Ruben Rubinyan last week revealed that Turkish and Armenian officials met last month to explore the possibility of restoring a rail link between their countries.
Rubinyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the meeting took place on the Armenian-Turkish border “in a positive and constructive atmosphere.” It focused on “technical requirements” for restoring the railway that has not functioned since 1993, he said without giving details. Neither Ankara nor Yerevan had reported the meeting earlier.
Negotiators from the two sides led by Rubinyan and Turkish diplomat Serdar Kilic agreed to “assess” the feasibility of restoring the rail link when they met on the border in July. They also “reconfirmed the agreements reached at their previous meetings,” according to identical Turkish and Armenia readouts of that meeting.
