Azatutyun.am. Armenia has asked Russia to mediate in the normalization of its relations with Turkey, an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
Vahan Hunanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that a number of Armenia’s partners, including Russia, have expressed readiness to mediate in Turkish-Armenian normalization and the Armenian side has asked Moscow to be a go-between.
“A number of international partners, including Russia, have stated that they are ready to support the Armenian-Turkish settlement process. And we have informed Russia that we are ready to start the Armenian-Turkish settlement process without preconditions. When and if such a process starts, naturally, we will provide information on that,” Hunanian said.
In August, the leaders of Armenia and Turkey spoke about “positive signals” coming from the other side of the border. In September, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even revealed that through Georgia’s prime minister, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian had offered him to meet. He added, however, that for such a meeting to take place, Yerevan had to take “clear steps” towards “[opening] the Zangezur corridor [for Azerbaijan].”
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Shortly afterwards Pashinian reiterated through a spokesperson that Armenia does not accept what he called ‘corridor logic’ in unblocking transport links in the region, but added that Yerevan was ready for contacts with Ankara.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, no direct talks have taken place between Yerevan and Ankara yet.
In a recent interview with Le Figaro Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that Ankara was setting new conditions for starting a dialogue with Yerevan, including the provision of an exterritorial corridor that would connect Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhichevan.
Mirzoyan told the French daily that the demand for such a corridor was out of the question.
“States must allow transit while maintaining sovereignty over their territory,” he said. “All transport links in the region must be reopened.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hunanian said that Mirzoyan’s remarks were based “on public statements made by Turkey about the so-called Zangezur corridor.”
“They [Turks] have constantly raised this subject at the level of both the president and the foreign minister. And we say that such a thing cannot happen. However, as I mentioned, there have been no negotiations,” the official added.
As of this filing the Turkish Foreign Ministry has not responded to a request by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service for a comment regarding this issue.