YEREVAN, APRIL 17, ARTSAKHPRESS. The Armenian government presented details on the normalization process with Turkey from 2022.
In its 2022 government action plan report, the government said that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 11 during which the Armenian Prime Minister offered congratulations on Kurban Bayram and the Turkish President congratulated on Vardavar. The leaders emphasized the importance they attach to the bilateral normalization process.
PM Pashinyan and President Erdogan then met in October during the European Political Community summit in Prague.
PM Pashinyan called President Erdogan on February 7, 2023 to offer condolences on the devastating earthquake of February 6.
On February 8, Prime Minister Pashinyan authorized the deployment of a 27-man search-and-rescue team and one foreign ministry official to Adiyaman to participate in eliminating the consequences of the earthquake.
On February 11, 2023, five Armenian cargo trucks carrying 100 tons of humanitarian aid crossed the Armenian-Turkish border via the Margara Bridge – which has been closed since 1993 – to Adiyaman. On February 14, Armenia sent another 12 tons of humanitarian aid to Adiyaman, again via the Margara Bridge.
On February 15, the Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan led a delegation to Turkey. Vice Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan, who is Armenia’s Special Representative for Normalization with Turkey, was included in the delegation. Rubinyan’s Turkish counterpart Serdar Kilic met the delegation in the Ankara airport. FM Mirzoyan then held talks with his Turkish counterpart. FM Mirzoyan then visited Adiyaman and inspected the SAR operations and supervised the delivery of the humanitarian aid.
Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan and Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu also met in March, 2022, during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. They reiterated readiness to conduct the normalization process and establishment of good-neighborly relations without preconditions and expressed support to the work of the special envoys.
Rubinyan and Kilic, the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey for normalization, held 4 meetings in 2022.
As part of the normalization process, Armenia and Turkey restored direct flights in 2022. Turkey also lifted the ban on direct air cargo transport with Armenia effective from January 1, 2023.
On July 1, 2022, the special envoys for normalization met in Vienna and agreed to open the land border for citizens of third countries. Government working groups held two meetings in November and December as part of implementing the agreement.
