ISTANBUL
Turkey has presented Armenia as the venue for the first normalization talks between the two countries in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, the Turkish foreign minister said on Monday.
“We have made an offer to Armenia, saying that we can have the first assembly in Yerevan, but Armenia is not yet in a position to do so because of internal pressure,” Cavusoglu told a joint press conference of the foreign and interior ministers. of Turkey and Austria in the capital Ankara.
Cavusoglu said the Armenian diaspora was divided over the Turkish-Armenian normalization process, adding that there were protests through extremist teams on Armenian streets.
“We thank Austria (for the normalization talks), but why shouldn’t the next meetings be held in Turkey or Armenia?” he asked.
The Turkish Foreign Minister also reiterated that his country is in consultation with Azerbaijan at each and every level of the normalization process.
“After all, we are going to continue with the procedure gradually,” Cavusoglu said.
“On the other hand, we are normalizing between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he added.
The Turkish and Armenian envoys for the normalization of relations held their fourth assembly in Vienna on Friday, in which they agreed to open the land border between the two countries to third-country nationals “as soon as possible,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
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 3rd assembly was held on May 3 in the same city.
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.