Erdogan and Pashinyan speak over phone, discussing normalization process between Turkey and Armenia

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call on Monday, amid efforts to mend bilateral ties that was frozen for almost three decades.

The two leaders emphasized the importance of the bilateral normalization process between the two countries, according to Armenian premier.

“We expect early implementation of agreements reached in the meeting of our special representatives on July 1,” Pashinyan said via a Twitter post on Monday.

In a phone conversation with Turkey’s President Erdogan we emphasized the importance we attach to the bilateral normalization process between #Armenia and #Turkey. We expect early implementation of agreements reached in the meeting of our Special Representatives on July 1․

— Nikol Pashinyan (@NikolPashinyan) July 11, 2022

Armenia and Turkey agreed to open their land borders for third-country citizens visiting both countries respectively, at the earliest date possible, in a meeting held between the two country’s representatives in Vienna on July 1.

They also agreed on commencing direct air cargo trade between Turkey and Armenia, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

Turkish ambassador Serdar Kılıc and Ruben Rubinyan, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament held four rounds of exploratory talks since January, aimed at normalising diplomatic relations. 

The relations between Ankara and Yerevan have been frozen since early 1990’s, due to Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where the two countries were embroiled in six weeks of clashes in autumn 2020. Ankara sided with Baku in the conflict, and had kept its land border with Armenia closed since 1993.