The Turkish side is restoring the Alican border checkpoint on the Turkish side, and the Margara border checkpoint is on the Armenian side. Ruben Rubinyan, deputy speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and the country’s special representative for the normalization process with Turkey, told this to reporters Monday at the NA.
“As for further developments, let me not say anything now. When the time comes, I will inform in a proper manner. I want to announce something when it happens. There has been an agreement since 2022 that the [Armenian-Turkish] border should be opened for [the citizens of] third countries and persons holding diplomatic passports,” Rubinyan added.
And regarding the fact that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that symbolic steps would be taken at the beginning of this year, Rubinyan said: "I don't want to say much on this topic. Not because I have something to hide or I don't want to give you information, but my experience in the Armenia-Turkey normalization process shows that it is better to wait for something to happen, and then announce it. I don't want to harm the processes in any way. Our [i.e. Armenia’s] position has always been that we want to have completely open borders and established diplomatic relations right away tomorrow, and in this regard, nothing has changed in our position."
In response to the journalists’ observation that the Turkish side continues to link the normalization of relations between the two countries with the full normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly said that there has been no change in our position in that regard either.
“The process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey and the process between Armenia and Azerbaijan are different processes, but, naturally, since we are in the same region, they can interact with each other. We believe that progress in the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey will not only not harm the process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but will also help and give new impetus. In addition, one cannot help but notice that there is tremendous progress in the process between Armenia and Azerbaijan: the August 8 declaration on peace, the at least partial unblocking of the railway, and so on,” Rubinyan noted.
