Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said Yerevan will try its best to ensure that the ongoing peace discussions with Turkey are not stalled.
In a speech he made at the Armenian parliament on Wednesday, Pashinian said the government is aware of all risks in the normalization process with Turkey and that he believes negotiations should continue and dialogue must be established despite everything.
“We need to do everything to ensure that negotiations with Turkey do not come to a standstill. We are aware that the results of the process may not come fast and let our international partners know about this,” Pashinian said, adding that delayed results may lead to a halt.
The Armenian prime minister continued by suggesting that small steps may be taken to prevent such a pause.
“Our international partners fully support the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations,” Pashinian added.
In January, Pashinian said Armenia wants to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions.
Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic or commercial ties for three decades, and the talks are the first attempt to restore links since a 2009 peace accord. That deal was never ratified and ties have remained tense. Following the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in which Turkey supported Azerbaijan against Armenia, Turkish-Armenian relations have entered a new phase, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saying Turkey is ready for dialogue with Armenia. Azerbaijan also supports the process.
With their borders closed to one another, Turkey and Armenia have no direct trade routes. Indirect trade has risen marginally since 2013 but was just $3.8 million (TL 51.2 million) in 2021, according to official Turkish data.
Relations between Armenia and Turkey have historically been complicated. Turkey’s position on the events of 1915 is that Armenians lost their lives in eastern Anatolia after some sided with the invading Russians and revolted against the Ottoman forces. The subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties, with massacres by militaries and militia groups from both sides increasing the death toll.
Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as “genocide” but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.
The first meeting of special representatives from Turkey and Armenia toward normalization was held in January. The countries attended what both hailed as "positive and constructive" talks in Moscow, the first in more than a decade, raising hopes that diplomatic relations can be established and their land border – shut since 1993 – reopened.
Turkey and Armenia have also restarted commercial charter flights between Istanbul and Yerevan after two years as part of the normalization process.
