Moscow: Thawing of relations between Yerevan, Ankara tocontribute to  improvement of general situation in South Caucasus

ArmInfo.Moscow would not like to reveal the details of the negotiations on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations between Russia and Turkey, since the  process has not been completed.

This was stated on April 12 during a briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, in response to a request to disclose the  agenda of the negotiations between the Foreign Ministers of the  Russian Federation and Turkey on the Armenian-Turkish normalization  on April 7 in Ankara.

"Diplomacy should be able to work carefully on such a sensitive  topic," the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said,  adding that she could only once again present Moscow's position on  this issue, which was repeatedly voiced.

"We support the resumption of a mutually respectful dialogue between  Yerevan and Ankara. It was launched with our direct participation in  January 2022. We are convinced that such a thaw will help improve the  overall situation in the South Caucasus and make a significant  contribution to establishing long-term stability in the region," she  said.  According to her, Moscow sees that in the recent period the  process is well under way and is ready to continue to provide the  necessary assistance.  Turkey's special representative in the  negotiations on the settlement of relations between Armenia and  Turkey, Serdar Kilic, said in January of this year that Armenia and  Turkey had reached an agreement to give a new impetus to the work on  opening the border for citizens of third countries. "Regarding the  opening of the border for third-country nationals, our minister  mentioned in his speech that an agreement had been reached to give a  new impetus to work on this issue. The two ministers came to this  agreement, and we will do our best to start the Margara bridge  service as soon as possible," said the special envoy of Turkey,  presenting the results of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of  Armenia and Turkey in Ankara.  The start of the normalization process  was announced on December 13, 2021 by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut  Cavusoglu. At the same time, he stressed that Ankara will act in  coordination with Azerbaijan regarding steps to normalize relations  with Armenia. After that, several rounds of negotiations took place  between the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey.

Earlier, ArmInfo, citing diplomatic sources, reported that from  mid-summer the Armenian-Turkish border would begin to receive  citizens of third countries. And the other day Ruben Rubinyan told  reporters that the parties agreed to launch this process in early  summer.