ISTANBUL
Turkish and Armenian agreed to open the land border to third-country nationals visiting the two countries as soon as possible, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The envoys for the normalization procedure between Ankara and Yerevan “agreed to allow the crossing of the land border between Turkey and Armenia to third-country nationals visiting Turkey and Armenia respectively as soon as possible and made the decision to initiate the mandatory procedure for this purpose,” the ministry said in a statement.
Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic and Armenian National Assembly Vice President Ruben Rubinyan, special representatives for normalization, held their fourth meeting in Vienna, austria’s capital.
“They also agreed to start the direct air shipping industry between Turkey and Armenia as soon as possible and made the decision to initiate the mandatory procedure for this purpose,” he said.
Turkish and Armenian officials also “discussed other concrete steps imaginable that can be taken to achieve the ultimate purpose of full normalization between their respective countries,” he added.
“Finally, they reaffirmed their agreement to continue with the normalization procedure without preconditions,” he said.
The first circular of normalization talks was held in Moscow on Jan. 14, where the two sides agreed to continue negotiations without preconditions, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
The Turkish and Armenian envoys met for the time being in Vienna on February 24 and the third assembly took positions on May 3 in the Austrian capital.
In addition, a bilateral assembly was held between the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Armenia on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum on 12 March.
From those efforts, Turkey and Armenia also resumed advertising flights from February 2 after a two-year hiatus.
The two countries have been divided on various issues, adding Armenia’s Nagorno-Karabakh profession and the events of 1915 at the time of the Ottoman Empire, and the border between the two neighboring countries has been closed since 1993.