Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (RA Foreign Ministry, February 15)
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan made a historic visit to Turkey following the brief opening of the Armenia-Turkey border for the first time in three decades.
“I consider it symbolic that on Saturday the Armenian-Turkish border, which has been closed for 30 years, was opened for Armenian trucks loaded with humanitarian aid heading to Adiyaman,” Mirzoyan said during a joint press conference with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The Armenia-Turkey border reopened briefly for the delivery of humanitarian aid following last week’s devastating earthquake. At least 40,000 people have been killed after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria.
On February 11, Armenia sent five trucks carrying 100 tons of food, medicine, water and other emergency supplies to Turkey. The trucks crossed the Margara bridge, which connects the Armenian village Margara with the Turkish village Alican. A second convoy of trucks transported supplies to Turkey Tuesday night.
Armenian rescue team in Turkey (Ruben Rubinyan, February 12)
Armenia also sent 27 rescue workers to Turkey and 29 to Syria. Armenian officials said that the Armenian rescue team saved two girls in Adıyaman on February 12.
Armenian rescue team in Turkey (Vahan Kostanyan, February 9)
Cavusoglu said that the humanitarian assistance would bolster negotiations on restoring diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey and opening their shared border.
“The normalization process continues in the South Caucasus,” Cavusoglu said on Wednesday during his joint press conference with Mirzoyan. “We believe that the understanding of cooperation we have put forward in the humanitarian field will support this process.”
Mirzoyan said that the foreign ministers had reached an agreement to jointly repair the Ani bridge and restore other infrastructure along the Armenia-Turkey border.
“Being in Türkiye at this difficult moment, I would like to once again reiterate the readiness and willingness of the Republic of Armenia to build peace in the region and, particularly, to fully normalize relations with Türkiye, establish diplomatic relations and fully open the border between Armenia and Türkiye,” Mirzoyan said.
Talks between Turkey and Armenia to establish bilateral relations have been ongoing since December 2021. On July 1, 2022, special envoys appointed for the normalization process announced the first major breakthrough in negotiations. The envoys agreed to “enable the crossing of the land border between Armenia and Turkey by third-country citizens.” They also agreed to commence direct air cargo trade between the two countries.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had their first ever phone call that month, and three months later held their first meeting in Prague on October 6 on the sidelines of a pan-European summit.
On January 6, the Armenian Foreign Ministry announced with little fanfare that Turkey had lifted its ban on direct cargo transportation from Armenia.
However, negotiations between the two countries have since stalled following Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia in September and its blockade of Artsakh, which entered its third month this week.
Armenian politicians have been divided on whether the humanitarian assistance to Turkey will help Armenia in ongoing negotiations.
Civil Contract Party parliamentarian and chairman of the committee on foreign relations Sargis Khandayan expressed hope that Armenia’s aid delivery will incline Turkey toward the normalization process.
“I think this is a positive sign,” Khadnayan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “In light of a disaster of this scale, it is difficult to speak of positive signs, of course, but nevertheless, we see that when there is a desire, it is possible to open the border and operate the roads and communication. Let’s hope that Turkey’s government will be more inclined toward this process and we will see quicker results.”
Opposition lawmakers, however, have been less optimistic. Artur Khachatryan from the Armenia Alliance said that Turkey will not give up the preconditions it has placed on the normalization process, namely “giving up Artsakh.”
“Turkey opened the Margari road when it needed to, and it will keep it closed as long as Armenia does not fulfill Turkey’s demands,” Khachatryan said. “If Turkey wanted to show good will, it would demand that its junior partner Azerbaijan open the Lachin Corridor and so that at least 100 tons of goods are transported to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish parliament, welcomed Armenia’s assistance to Turkey as a “historical, humanitarian and conscientious step.” He expressed hope that it will lead to the permanent opening of the Armenia-Turkey border.
“[The Armenian rescue workers] said, ‘We are Armenians, but above all we are human,’” Paylan told Turkish news agency Anka. “Likewise, the people of Turkey have seen that we are human beings first of all. Today, the people are in solidarity against the nationalist and racist policies that distance us from each other.”
Toivo Klaar, special representative of the EU in the South Caucasus, welcomed Mirzoyan’s “historic visit” to Turkey. “Hopefully a harbinger of developments to come in the Turkey-Armenia relationship,” he tweeted.
The Armenia-Turkey border has been closed since the 1990s. In April 1993, Turkey closed its border with Armenia in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the first Artsakh War.
In 2009, the countries signed two bilateral protocols brokered by France, Russia and the United States. The Zurich Protocols would have opened the border, established diplomatic relations and created a joint historical commission to study the Armenian Genocide. However, the protocols were never ratified or implemented under pressure from Azerbaijan, which opposed normalization of relations without a resolution of the Artsakh conflict.
Armenian authorities have been insistent that the current normalization process must remain separate from ongoing talks with Azerbaijan on the Artsakh conflict. However, Turkish authorities have said that Turkey is coordinating its decisions with Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijan has been our red line from the beginning. We have said that we will open our doors after problems with Azerbaijan are solved,” Erdogan told reporters on July 25.
“We coordinate every step with Azerbaijan,” Cavusoglu told reporters four days earlier. “Whether Armenia likes it or not, this is the reality. We are one nation and two states.”
Lillian Avedian is a staff writer for the Armenian Weekly. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Hetq and the Daily Californian. She is pursuing master’s degrees in journalism and Near Eastern Studies at New York University. A human rights journalist and feminist poet, Lillian’s first poetry collection Journey to Tatev was released with Girls on Key Press in spring of 2021.