“A fundamental new step towards regulating Armenian-Turkish relations

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz arrived in Armenia on May 4 within the framework of the 8th European Political Community Summit. At Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport, the Vice President of Turkey was welcomed by the Vice President of the National Assembly, the special representative of Armenia in the Armenia-Turkey settlement process, Ruben Rubinyan.

During the visit to Armenia, the Vice President of Turkey and Nikol Pashinyan signed the protocol for the joint restoration of the Ani Bridge. Even before this visit, on May 28, a meeting of Armenian and Turkish delegates took place in Kars to discuss the works of restoring the Gyumri-Kars railway.

The Vice President of Turkey announced 3 days after his visit to Armenia that with the development of the “Middle Corridor” and the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor” there will be both greater security and greater prosperity.

“We want peace in the South Caucasus. Armenia and Azerbaijan have made significant progress in this matter. We say, “Peace is now very near.” With the establishment of this peace, the South Caucasus will play a different role at the regional and global level as a region of extremely high strategic importance. Especially with the development of the “Middle Corridor” and the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor”, there will be both greater security and greater prosperity. had announced Vice President of Turkey.

Former director of the NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, academician, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan summarizing the visit of the Turkish official to Armenia and the signed protocol, he noted that the visit is so important that a high-ranking Turkish official has come to Armenia, although many people in Turkey may not even know his name. However, this indicates that the “contact” between the two countries continues.

“Turkey’s vice president as a political figure does not represent anything, he is under Erdogan’s shadow. I don’t think that high-ranking officials from Turkey will come to Armenia in the near future, why, because if a high-ranking official comes, there should be a fundamentally important step towards regulating bilateral relations. However, I don’t see new fundamental steps aimed at regulating Armenian-Turkish relations, I think there won’t be any in the near future.

In my understanding, a decision was made in Turkey to regulate relations with Armenia. But taking into account the statements of the President of Turkey, by which he links the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations with the signing of the “peace treaty” with Azerbaijan, I think that this is the main demand for the settlement.” 168.am–Ruben Safrastyan said in a conversation with

Continuing the thought, our interlocutor said, yes, there is a decision to normalize relations with Armenia in Turkey, which is due to the growing importance of the region, the South Caucasus, which is important for Turkey. There is also a second circumstance: Turkey always connects the settlement of relations with the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

“Until the peace agreement with Azerbaijan is signed, Turkey will not take any principled steps to regulate relations with Armenia. Instead, he will take small steps of a technical nature to show everyone that he has a positive attitude towards the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations,” added Ruben Safrastyan.

Regarding the steps towards the works of the Gyumri-Kars railway and Armenia’s financial capabilities in terms of making investments to restore the railway, Ruben Safrastyan said that it is difficult to say how much money will be required for all this, but it is an opportunity for Armenia and one way to connect with the world.

“The problem here is that, yes, there are opportunities and there are also risks and these risks must be manageable. What I am saying is the result of these tens of years, because the problems related to the Armenian-Turkish border have been discussed many times. There have been various research and professional groups that have seriously investigated these issues from time to time, and I myself have been a part of them. My general approach, which was formed while working in those groups, is as follows: there are opportunities, and they will be positive for Armenia, but there are also risks that must be managed,” Ruben Safrastyan emphasized.

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