There is full coordination between Turkey and Azerbaijan amid the process for normalization of bilateral ties with Armenia, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Saturday.
“Our main goal is to maintain good neighborly relations in the region in line with international law,” he stated speaking at a joint news conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku.
Bayramov said Azerbaijan supports the normalization between Turkey and Armenia.
Baku wants “good neighborly relations to be established in the region,” he added.
The region, he said, has “new realities” following the 44-day Patriotic War, which ended a nearly three-decade Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
“Azerbaijan has emphasized many times before that it is ready to sign a cease-fire agreement with Armenia.
“We believe that despite all the difficulties, all the sufferings of the past, we can now talk about normalization,” Bayramov said.
The second meeting between Turkey and Armenia’s special envoys to discuss steps to normalize ties between the two countries was held in Vienna in late February. The envoys have “confirmed that the ultimate goal of the negotiations is to achieve full normalization” between the two countries as agreed on during their first meeting in Moscow.
Last December, Serdar Kılıç was named Turkey’s special envoy to discuss steps toward normalization with neighboring Armenia, with Ruben Rubinyan named as his counterpart days later.
The first meeting of special representatives from Turkey and Armenia for normalization was held last month. 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.
Turkey is ready to take further steps in improving relations with Armenia and establishing a regional cooperation platform in the Caucasus as long as Yerevan is determined to continue the normalization process that started with the appointment of special envoys, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last month.
Despite being neighbors, Turkey and Armenia have seen many difficulties in their diplomatic relations since the latter’s declaration of independence in 1991. The two countries have long been divided by a range of issues – from Armenia’s refusal to recognize their shared border to its occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the 1915 events between the Ottoman Empire and Armenians.
The two countries have had no diplomatic or commercial ties since the 1990s. The talks last month were the first attempt to restore links since a 2009 peace accord that was never ratified.
Bilateral relations, however, have taken a new shape and appear to be heading toward normalization recently. Following the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in which Turkey backed Azerbaijan against Armenia, Turkish-Armenian relations have entered a new phase, with Erdoğan saying Turkey is ready for dialogue with Armenia. Azerbaijan also supports the process. Addressing Azerbaijan’s parliament on Jan. 16, 2021, Erdoğan said peace and stability in the Caucasus will benefit the entire world, not just countries of the region.
Ankara has made frequent calls for a six-nation platform comprising 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. Turkey believes that permanent peace is possible through mutual security-based cooperation among the states and people of the South Caucasus region.
Russia hosted the inaugural meeting of the regional platform. However, Tbilisi has refused to attend, citing Russian aggression toward the ex-Soviet nation. Turkey wants to host the next Caucasus cooperation platform meeting.