Turkey and Armenia have agreed to move forward with efforts to establish diplomatic relations “without conditions” and continue normalization efforts that could lead to the reopening of their shared borders for trade, their foreign ministers said on March 12.
“During our meeting, we reaffirmed the readiness of both sides to continue the process of normalization, establishing relations, opening borders without any preconditions,” Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoian said after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in the Turkish resort town of Antalya.
Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations, a closed land border, and a deep-seated hostility rooted in the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during and following World War I that many nations recognize as genocide.
But in December, the two nations appointed special envoys to normalize relations, spurred by support from regional powerbroker Russia and Armenia's pro-Turkey neighbor, Azerbaijan.
Cavusoglu described his meeting with Mirzoian as “very productive and constructive.” He also stressed that Azerbaijan also has a positive attitude toward the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.
Turkey and Armenia reached a deal in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the agreement was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 as a reaction to ethnic Armenian forces taking control of Azerbaijan's breakaway, mostly ethnic Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts.
In November 2020, following a 45-day war with Azerbaijan, Armenian forces lost control over large parts of the breakaway region and surrounding districts, while Azerbaijan was able to recapture territory lost in an early 1990s separatist conflict.
The second military conflict ended with a Russian-brokered truce.