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.
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.
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 Khandanyan expressed hope that Armenia’s aid delivery will incline Turkey toward the normalization process.
“I think this is a positive sign,” Khandanyan 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.
Five trucks full of humanitarian aid passed through the Alican Border Point, which has been closed for 30 years between Armenia 🇦🇲 and Turkey 🇹🇷.
Let’s get some good out of this great disaster.
Solidarity saves lives! pic.twitter.com/fFBPXv2XRl— Garo Paylan – Կարօ Փայլան (@GaroPaylan) February 11, 2023
“[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
Latest posts by Lillian Avedian (see all)
- Jason Takhtadjian named to Central California’s 40 under 40 Class of 2024 - December 10, 2024
- My Sweet Land team determined to reach global audiences - November 20, 2024
- USC Institute of Armenian Studies to host Artsakh Uprooted: Aftermaths of Displacement - October 25, 2024
Good article, spelling mistake (twice) with Sargis Khandanyan*
A TURK WILL ALWAYS BE A TURK. BUILD RELATIONS BUT BUILD YOUR MILITARY INCLUDING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. I FEAR THAT ARMENIAN LEADERS ARE TOO CORRUPT AND STUPID TO DO THAT. THE YOUNG TURKS INVITED ARMENIAN LEADERS TO JOIN THEM TO TOPPLE THE SULTAN AND THEN SLAUGHTERED ARMENIANS.
l dont know where do you live but leave your comfort zone in west and move to armenia we left lebanon due to racism and discrimination against armenians in lebanon repatriate back to our lovely hayrenik also if you live US your tax help to turks elimniate armenians because armenia not part of nato we part of csto and russian armenians more active than about state power in armenia cuz soviet effect so move to armenia pay tax to armenia do not fund turks for comfy life in west for personal interest act like real man like we do repatriate back to armenia build the country better,
@HOVSEP NAZARIAN. I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN THE USA. I’M SORRY THAT LEBANON WAS A SH*T COUNTRY, AND THAT YOU HAD TO MOVE TO ARMENIA. I WILL BET THAT IF YOU COULD MOVE TO THE USA, YOU WOULD HAVE PURCHASED A 1-WAY TICKET TO GLENDALE LIKE THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER ARMENIANS WHO LEFT ARMENIA/LEBANON/IRAN/ETC. BECAUSE THERE WAS NO FUTURE FOR THEM THERE. THE TAXES YOU ARE PAYING IN ARMENIA ARE FUNDING CORRUPT ARMENIAN LEADERS BUY FANCY CARS AND HOUSES SO USE YOUR LITTLE BRAIN INSTEAD OF MAKING INSULTING COMMENTS. IF ARMENIA INVESTED THE BILLIONS OF $$$ IT RECEIVED FOR 30 YEARS INSTEAD OF STEALING IT, IT WOULD HAVE SOME POWER RIGHT NOW. INSTEAD, IT IS STILL A POOR, WEAK, AND CORRUPT COUNTRY BASED ON THE 2022 REPORT OF CORRUPT COUNTRIES.
I agree, A TURK WILL ALWAYS BE A TURK
Let me bring you back to reality.
1) The fact that your parents ran away from their people, homeland, national duties a little earlier than others does not make you special. On the contrary, it makes you the son of deserters.
2) If you wanted to argue the fact of leaving your mother’s womb in any territory as a reason to consider that place your homeland, then this is simply idiocy. If you were born on board a plane flying over the Atlantic, what would be your homeland – the plane, the ocean, the country that owns the airline?
3) You have no reason to be proud of America, since neither you nor your (grand)parents built it, did not create it. They just ran away like cowards. For you it’s just a matter of coincidence.
4) Lebanon is not a sh*tty country. It’s just that people with small brains don’t know how to think and watch their words.
5) Not all people want to escape to the USA. Almost all people in both Armenia and Lebanon have the opportunity to move to a richer country, but they don’t do it intentionally. This is their moral choice. And your Glendale rubbish, Armo, you can keep to yourself.
6) The government in Armenia is not corrupt. And even if we take the previous leaders, they cannot be compared with those who own the country that you consider yours.
7) Armenia did not receive billions from abroad, if you mean the fabulous “help” of the diaspora. Armenians from abroad sent money to their families, mothers, children, etc. This is their duty. It was not money to open factories and enterprises.
I didn’t receive anything from you. You can check the largest – ArmeniaFund reports. Everyone from Yerevan to Baku laughed at the amount of charitable funds . Stop lying about substantial “help”.
8) If you don’t like something in Armenia, then get up, come and change it, genius. Every coward can blather from a distance.
9) When you write the text in capital letters, what is written doesn’t become more important, you just give the impression of a hysteric who wants to speak out, because no one takes you seriously.
@ARMAN CHOBANYAN
I WILL KEEP MY RESPONSES IN ALL CAPS AND NOT INSULT YOU LIKE YOU INSULTED ME AND MY FAMILY.
1. MY GRANDPARENTS ESCAPED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO SURVIVE BEING MASSACRED. UNFORTUNATELY, OTHER MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY DID NOT.
2. I CONSIDER THE U.S.A. MY HOMELAND. BORN AND RAISED. YOU CAN CONSIDER WHEREVER YOU WANT, YOURS.
3. THE U.S.A. IS A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO WORK HARD. WE MADE OUR LIVES HERE AND IT IS THE SAME REASON MILLIONS LEGALLY AND ILLEGALLY RISK THEIR LIVES TO COME HERE.
4. LEBANON IS A CORRUPT TOILET. WHOEVER CAN LEAVE, HAS LEFT. WHOEVER CAN LEAVE BUT HAS NOT LEFT IS PLUNDERING THE COUNTRY.
5. I DON’T LIVE IN GLENDALE OR ANYWHERE NEAR 200 MILES OF IT.
6. ARMENIA IS CORRUPT. NEPOTISM. BRIBERY. MONEY LAUNDERING. SPEND TIME READING KHACHIK HARUTYUNYAN’S RESEARCH PIECES.
7. WORLD BANK, EU, IMF, USAID, MILLENIUM CHALLENGE, AND EVEN THE CORRUPT ARMENIA FUND SENT BILLIONS TO ARMENIA. KIRKORIAN, EURNEKIAN ARE DIASPORA ARMENIANS WHO SPENT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. OF COURSE YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT MONEY: IT WAS STOLEN BEFORE IT REACHED YOUR POCKET!
8. I AGREE 100% WITH YOU. UNFORTUNATELY, ARMENIA LIKES SELF-FLAGELLATION INSTEAD OF REAL CHANGE. I’D DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS BEFORE SEEING ANY CHANGE!
It is embarrassing and humiliating that we spend all this time on “normalizing” relations with Turkey. Apparently we are doing this for the west and Russia because there is no value for our people. While we praise the trucks going to Turkey, not one parcel for Artsakh. I am happy Armenia is supporting humanitarian causes but disgusted that Artsakh is not one of them. Do we actually believe that Turkey will fulfill its obligations or not turn this into a surrender.
@STEPAN. WHEN YOU ARE A WEAK AND POOR COUNTRY LIKE ARMENIA WHO WASTED BILLIONS OF $$$ OVER 30+ YEARS, YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BE NEIGHBORLY. ARMENIA IS IN NO POSITION TO DICTATE ANY TERMS–HENCE, ITS “NO PRECONDITIONS” FOR EVERYTHING. ARMENIA IS DESPERATE. LET’S HOPE ARMENIA DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT THE TURKS ARE NOW THEIR BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. BUILD THE DAMN MILITARY INCLUDING NUCLEAR WEAPONRY. SMILE, SHAKE HANDS, AND TRY TO WORK TOGETHER, BUT ALWAYS HAVE ONE FINGER ON THE BUTTON.
Armenia is screwed to be putting it mildly, and that Russia failed them and cavorted with Turkey and Azerbaijan and somehow expects Armenia to be just as friendly as before assuming that Armenia has no option but to tolerate Russian duplicity as Armenia could never countenance cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan, thus taking its loyalty for granted, Armenia failed to compromise when it had the advantage and has now lost it. Alas it means that Turkey will continue to get away with the genocide, although its important not to live in the past. Indeed in recent years prior to 2022 it was excessive living in the past (WW2) and regaling that blinded Europeans to the present growing prospect of a significant conflict.
Also its quite clear that Turkey and Azerbaijan work in tandem and Turkey has no reason to normalise relations without Armenia signing away Arktash and allowing free passage at the least across syunik
A TURK WILL ALWAYS BE A TURK
Charles,
If you really think that if the Armenian leaders were much more compromising with the enemy demands than they already were would have made a difference with an enemy that considers as parts of its 105-year old Soviet-invented artificial state not just Artsakh but the entire Armenian republic then you are very much mistaken. You need to understand what kind of enemy we are dealing with and only then you will understand what their intentions were all along. They engaged in peace negotiations at their weakest when they knew they had no other alternative and stood to lose more Armenian territory under their occupation than they already had. Having lost the war in a devastating and humiliating fashion and with massive losses, they needed a breather and a long break to get back on their feet to fight another day. They had lost over 65% of their armed forces and territory much bigger in size than Lebanon.
Unfortunately our short-sighted Armenian leaders at the time gave them this valuable opportunity by agreeing to a Russian-brokered ceasefire in 1994 instead of forcing them into capitulation and signing of a binding treaty recovering Artsakh and uniting it with Armenia, as well as populating other liberated regions, as this was the original intention of the Artsakh liberation movement. Besides, winners of wars don’t make compromises; they demand them of the defeated enemy instead. Maybe our leaders were battle-weary or even were forced by Russia into a ceasefire because a strong and powerful Armenia was considered a liability to Russia and even more important than that this artificial Azerbaijani gas station disguised as a country was the invention of the Russians (Soviets) themselves and they had to protect their own creation. In any event, our selfless and dedicated patriotic leaders of the time sacrificed everything and liberated Artsakh and won the war against all odds, with three times less the enemy population and thirty times less their firepower, but they failed to bring the war into its intended conclusion and that was the liberation and reunification of Artsakh with Armenia. They had the opportunity to do that and failed to do so and that, in hindsight, turned out to be the biggest mistake of their victorious war. Because of this critical failure, the enemy got stronger over time, invited foreign investors who poured billions of dollars in oil & gas exploration and excavations and building of infrastructure to pump them into Europe and as a result of energy export revenues the enemy became even stronger and therefore less and less compromising.
The presence of the foreign investors worked against the Armenians as well because they now had no choice but to defend the enemy to protect their investments. In other words, and directly or otherwise, they sided with the enemy by leaning more towards defending the ‘territorial integrity’ of the enemy, an artificial one at that, over the self-determination rights of the native Armenians when in fact they did the exact opposite in the Balkans by violating Serbia’s territorial integrity and granting Kosovo the right to self-determination leading the way to the creation of the Kosovan state. This is not an enemy you compromise with. The more you give the more they will want and will try to take. What you do instead with this kind of enemy is to bring them to their knees, as we did thirty years ago, and keep them there. This is a kind of enemy you must have no mercy on them for if you do they will use that against you and will do anything and everything in their power to destroy you. Have we not learned in all these years, and centuries past, what these criminal Turks and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijanis are all about? If not, then shame on us!
An inexperienced, incompetent and delusional sheep in the company of an opportunist wolf. The terrorist Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, also the foreign minister of Soviet-invented artificial and criminal Azerbaijan as he always claims, is the same scoundrel who last year during the Armenian Genocide commemoration on April 24th of 2022 in Uruguay gave the Armenian protesters the well-known Turkish nationalist sign while passing by the Armenian crowd in his bullet-proof caravan denouncing the Armenian mass killings and disrespecting 1.5 million murdered Armenians. A leopard never changes its spots as they say. This guy is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing and Ararat Mirzoyan and the dysfunctional government he represents are only fooling themselves. Shame on them for rushing to help Armenian Genocide deniers and warmongers of 2020 terroristic and disastrous war WHILE washing their hands clean of over a hundred thousand fellow Armenians being held hostage in Artsakh with full backing of these very same Turkish terrorists.
Right on all counts. Bravo, brother.
My thoughts precisely. When dealing with a Turk, do not let go of the stick.
I love the intelligent discussion here, and finally something hopeful to consider. Good job Lillian!
Fool me once shame on you.
Fool me twice shame on me.
Anyone who believes the ‘sons of Talaat Pasha’ are operating in good faith is setting themselves up for a horrible ending.
Continue the diplomacy but we must build up our Armenian army Theodore Roosevelt once said ,.First we must get rid of the Russians which have done nothing to open the corridor of Lachine The Russians are in Armenia just for their own interests.The other thing we must do is get rid of Kocharian and Sarkissian the biggest treators of Armenia.
Continue the diplomacy but we have to build a strong army .Get rid of the Russians they are in Armenia for their own interests . They have done nothing to open the Lachin corridor. Theodore Roosevelt once said , speak softly but carry a big stick. We have to get rid also of Kocharian and Sarkissian the biggest traitors of Armenia.
@ Ararat
Armenia did very well in battle in 1994 but squandered the outcome although some was beyond its means. Despite the rout it didn’t necessarily mean that Armenia was in a position to take Baku and force a national surrender and its probable that Turkey would have intervened to prevent this. Thus Armenia wasn’t in the luxury that Israel enjoys – for the time being, to (re) colonise and integrate lands it gained and thus was rash to act as though it was! However there is also no way the great powers would allow a minor power like Armenia to redraw the map certainly not within Europe and former soviet union. Perhaps in Africa, South America, or south Asia maybe? As for Kosovo it is the creation of the exceptionalist USA and its hangers on, one law for me and another for you. Its worth noting that Turkey was an enthusiastic supporter of the plot and Azerbaijan opposes on the principle of territorial integrity and Armenia supports the principle of Kosovo on the basis of self determination although does not formally recognise it. Whilst all nations and alliances have the issue of hegemony in one way the hegemon wants strong allies – stronger together in another stronger allies but less obedient. Russia wanted a weak and dependent Armenia like its other allies who as it turns out are not strong enough to support it in Ukraine nor is Russia strong enough to support adequately in Armenia or keep the peace in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, a clear case of byzantine politics and being too clever by half! Armenia was definitely discouraged from recognition of Arktash as independent by the Minsk trio USA, Russia, France and this condemned Arktash to eventual failure. This fact should be made more publicly clear to the Armenian people, something of an elephant in the room. But take heart, Russia declares annexation of Ukrainian lands it didn’t even control and was loosing control of although after months is currently gaining slowly but looks ridiculous all the same. Russia has had a policy of deliberately leaving conflicts formally unresolved to justify its importance although this ploy which has served them so well since the end of the soviet union is coming under unprecedented strain.
Examples of failure to compromise and loosing more than before:-
In 1947 the Arabs rejected the UN partition plan and ended up loosing furthermore in war
In 1992 UNITA not strong enough to overthrow the communist government of Angola rejected elections and was eventually crushed
The Tamil Tigers not strong enough to secure and independent state from Sri Lanka and refused to negotiate a compromise of some self governance and were crushed although subsequently Sri Lanka has faced its own crisis and economic collapse – in time Alieyev family firm will have to answer to its people and face a reckoning but that is for the Azeris to deal with themselves.
All nations are artificial as they are human endeavours, the current Armenia isn’t continuous in sovereignty from the ancient kingdoms of Armenia so naming Azerbaijan as a soviet creation is pointless as the current Armenia is essentially a soviet creation.
Why on earth are we sending « humanitarian « aid to Turkey who just recently sent mercenaries and arms to the Azeris to kill Armenians. And why not make an effort to send aid to Armenians in Artsagh.
Agir avec amour est un premier pas pour transformer l’ennemi en ami
Because world doesnt turn around us and unfortunately russia still has millitary base in armenia and which is opposite to west also we have good relations which is USA/lsrael completely against also we are part of csto not part of Nato and We Armenians must reconsider friends and allies because our so called india and greece sended 20 plane help to turkey but they didnt send anything to artsakh in this conditions l cant say india and greece ally of armenia they are nothing more than untrustworthy and earth doesnt care about jehadist groups etc if it was important all countries would stop diplomatic and economic relations with saudia arabia in saudia if
You talk about democracy they send you behind bars but they buy all weapons from USA nd Nato and Armenia cant they wont sell to armenia while Armenia uncompareable democratic than saudia.
L’aide arménienne à la Turquie est une réponse à une sollicitation divine en faveur de l’amitié. Il y a beaucoup de Turcs qui sympathisant avec les Arméniens et qui veulent vivre avec eux dans une amitié qui conduit à la prospérité