Armenian expert: Yerevan, Ankara reach substantive agreement in two areas

REGION  05 July 2022 - 10:31

On July 1, the fourth meeting of the special representatives on the normalisation of Armenian-Turkish relations was held in Vienna. According to reports circulated by both sides, a substantive agreement has been reached in at least two areas.

Armenian political scientist Armen Petrosyan made the remarks about this, Caliber.Az reports.

"The first. The parties agreed to provide an opportunity to cross the Armenian-Turkish land border as soon as possible to third-country citizens visiting Armenia and Türkiye, respectively and decided to start the necessary processes in this direction.

Second. We agreed to start direct air cargo transportation between Armenia and Türkiye as soon as possible.

The first provision, in fact, may imply the preparation of land borders on both sides, in particular, the placement of border and customs checkpoints.

At the same time, it should be noted that from the Armenian side, this opportunity can be used mainly by representatives of the Armenian Diaspora who have visited Armenia or found refuge here, or those compatriots who have dual citizenship.

The second point is already directly related to those businessmen of Armenia who trade with Türkiye. It is difficult to predict to what extent this option will be applicable, given the existing uncertainty in connection with transport costs. However, the existence of such an agreement is at least positive from the point of view of reducing transit dependence on Georgia in possible force majeure situations.

And what is no less important, steps have been taken in a rather complex geopolitical and regional situation, the implementation of which will only create a basis for getting rid of the shroud of imitation of the process and ensuring its continuity. By the way, the possible steps of the Turkish side can largely be determined by the course of relations with Russia and possible pressure from the West," Petrosyan wrote.

Caliber.Az