By Shoghik Galstian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Turkish and Armenian officials met last month to explore the possibility of restoring a rail link between their countries as part of attempts to normalize bilateral relations, Armenia’s deputy parliament speaker Ruben Rubinyan said on Tuesday, December 10.
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 Armenian 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 the 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.
