Armenia ready to normalize relations with Turkey - PM

By Trend

Armenia is ready to normalize relations with Turkey, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Sept.8, Trend reports referring to the Armenian media.

According to Pashinyan, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly commented on the possibility of normalizing relations with Armenia.

"In these statements, we see an opportunity to discuss the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, the restoration of road and rail links. We are ready for such a conversation, which can get a broader context," the prime minister noted.

He noted that Russia expressed its readiness to assist this process.

“The EU, in particular France, and the US are also interested in this process,” added Pashinyan.

The relations between Armenia and Turkey deteriorated due to Armenia's occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories, including the Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, in the first Karabakh war in the 1990s, after which diplomatic ties, as well as transport communications between the two countries, were suspended.

Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.

A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.

On Jan.11, 2021, a meeting was held between the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia in Moscow, at which the parties agreed to restore all transport communications in the region which were closed due to the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories.