Wednesday, December 28 2022 20:39

ArmInfo.On December 27, Turkey's Special Representative for the Normalization of  Armenian-Turkish Relations, Ambassador Serdar Kilic, speaking at the  "Life Dedicated to Diplomacy" event organized by the Faculty of  Linguistics and Historical Geography of Ankara University, touched  upon the relations between Turkey and Armenia.

This is reported by the Ermenihaber website.  The source notes that according to K?l?c,  the existing problems will be overcome in case of mutual  understanding and consideration of long-term interests of both sides.  <We need to understand that a positive development in one of the  processes positively affects the other process, and similarly, the  negative development of one of the processes affects the other. These  two processes are independent, but cannot be completely separated  from each other," the diplomat noted.

Referring to the process of the Armenian-Turkish settlement, the  Turkish special representative noted that there are rumors that  Turkey and Armenia are actually holding trilateral negotiations,  since Azerbaijan is also part of this process. <Of course, there is  Azerbaijan, there are some countries that are in dialogue with  Armenia. However, they are not physically involved in this process  and cannot dictate terms in this process. This process is exclusively  a two-way process. This is happening exclusively between me and  Special Representative of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan. I We also have good  relations with him as friends>, the ambassador emphasized.

Recalling the positive environment of the recent meetings between  Armenia and Turkey at various levels, Kilic stressed that there are  certain problems at the current stage. In his opinion, the countries  of the region should deal with the solution of existing problems, but  recently the OSCE and the European Union began to intervene and  internationalize the problem, which the Turkish ambassador considers  wrong. <The countries of the region should solve their problems on  their own initiative and take responsibility for them. At the moment,  we are trying to do this together with Rubinyan>, said the special  representative.

Serdar Kilic stressed that significant steps are being taken within  the framework of the settlement process. One of them is that  bilateral air transportation of goods between Armenia and Turkey will  begin in the near future.Kilic supports the point of view that the  process of establishing lasting peace and stability in the region  takes place through the Turkish- Armenian settlement process. The  establishment of relations between Armenia and the West on a stable  basis also depends on the success of the Turkish-Armenian process. 

"If an increase in the standard of living and well-being of the  population of Armenia is expected, then the way to this is the  settlement of Turkish-Armenian relations. Now imagine that we have  two border crossings, one by rail and the other by road. If they are  open, Yerevan is opposite the Alijan border checkpoint. Gyumri is  located opposite the Akyaka railway crossing. Now, in the context of  economic sanctions against Russia, given the existing problems in the  field of trade with Armenia, this can have a devastating effect on  the standard of living of the people of Armenia>, the Turkish  diplomat emphasized.