Rubinian 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 Rubinian 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.
One of those agreements reached in July 2022 called for the opening of the border for Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passport holders as well as citizens of third countries. The Turkish side remains reluctant to do that.
Ankara has for decades made the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border and establishment of diplomatic relations with Yerevan conditional on a resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish leaders stuck to this condition even after the start of normalization talks with the current Armenian government in early 2022.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan expressed in October “cautious optimism” about prospects for the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. He expressed hope that the two neighboring nations will soon boast “new tangible achievements” in the normalization process.
On Sunday, the chairman of the Turkish parliament committee on foreign relations, Fuat Oktay, added his voice to Baku’s demands for a change of Armenia’s constitution and the opening of a land corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave as well as Turkey through a strategic Armenian region.
Ruben Safrastian, a leading Armenian expert on Turkey, said on Tuesday that Ankara would take real steps to normalize relations with Yerevan only after the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani treaty. Even in that case, he said, the Turks would link a full normalization to the opening of the “Zangezur corridor” sought by Baku.