Turkey's National Security Council (MGK) on Thursday stressed that the relevant actors must take constructive, sincere steps to improve mechanisms to strengthen peace and stability in the South Caucasus, especially Turkey and Armenia.
With normalization efforts between Turkey and Armenia underway, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday welcomed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's recent announcement that his country will "most likely" attend this year's Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF).
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Central African Republic counterpart Sylvie Baipo-Temon, Çavuşoğlu said Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Armenia's Special Envoy to Turkey Ruben Rubinyan are expected to attend the annual forum.
He noted that the normalization process with Armenia is continuing with "confidence-building steps," referring to the first round of negotiations held in Moscow with special envoys from both countries. He also mentioned that diplomats from the two countries are in frequent contact.
Çavuşoğlu welcomed Pashinian's earlier statement on participating in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and also confirmed Azerbaijan's participation.
"Both Azerbaijan and Armenia will share their thoughts at the forum. Thus, becoming a part of their confidence-building steps," he said.
On Tuesday, Pashinian said it would be unreasonable to miss the opportunity for dialogue at the forum.
After a 1 1/2 hour meeting recently in Moscow, the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries published the same statement hailing the talks and agreeing to "continue negotiations without preconditions." Turkey aims for their next meeting to be held either in Turkey or Armenia, sources said.
Former Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kılıç was named as the Turkish special envoy on Dec. 15, 2021, to discuss steps toward normalization with neighboring Armenia. Three days later, Armenia appointed its special representative, deputy parliamentary speaker Rubinyan.
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.
The neighbors are at odds over various issues, primarily the 1915 incidents and Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Turkey has been putting heavy emphasis on creating enhanced cooperation and integration in the region following the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Turkey and Azerbaijan also closely cooperate within the scope of the Organization of Turkic States and established the 3+3 Caucasus platform, which envisages further integration and cooperation in the region.
Ankara has made frequent calls for a six-nation platform comprising of Turkey, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia for permanent peace, stability and cooperation in the region, saying it would be a win-win initiative for all regional actors in the Caucasus.
The first meeting took place in Russia, without the participation of Georgia, which announced it would not take part in the next round, expected to take place in Turkey.
Ukrainian tensions
The MGK on Thursday also called for the de-escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
An escalation is not in anyone's interest, the council, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said in a statement after meeting at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.
Russia recently amassed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's eastern border, prompting fears that the Kremlin could be planning another military offensive against its former Soviet neighbor.
Moscow has denied that it is preparing to invade and said its troops are there for exercises.
On Wednesday, Erdoğan reiterated that he is ready to host the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to "pave the way for re-establishing peace" as tensions between the two countries show little sign of diminishing.
"Turkey wants tensions between Russia and Ukraine to be resolved before they turn into a new crisis," the president said during a televised interview.
Erdoğan also announced that he had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Turkey, but the date is yet to be set. The Kremlin later announced that Putin had accepted Erdoğan's invitation to visit Turkey.
The Russian president will visit Turkey once the pandemic situation and schedules allow it, the Kremlin said.
Turkey has been closely following the developments and is in close contact with both Kyiv and Moscow. Erdoğan had said Turkey could mediate between the neighbors amid increasing tensions in the region and recently announced plans to visit Ukraine in February to help defuse tensions.
NATO member Turkey has friendly ties with both Kyiv and Moscow but opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well as its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Kyiv has also bought Turkish drones to possibly use against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, angering Moscow, and agreed with Ankara to manufacture the drones locally this year.
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are open to the idea of Turkey playing a role in easing tensions between the two countries, as proposed by Ankara in November, Turkish diplomatic sources said last week.
Turkey is discussing the possibility of hosting the next meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, during which Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region will be discussed.