No Negotiations for Normalization of Armenia-Turkey Relations at the Moment. MFA

YEREVAN — Armenia and Turkey are not holding any negotiations on normalizing their relations, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raised the possibility of such a rapprochement when he spoke on August 27 of “some positive signals” sent by the Turkish government of late and said his administration is ready to reciprocate them.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded by saying that Ankara is open to normalizing ties with Yerevan. But he appeared to echo Azerbaijan’s demands for a formal Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan described Erdogan’s statements as encouraging on September 8. He reiterated Yerevan’s readiness to embark on a dialogue with Ankara.

“At the moment no negotiations are being held for the purpose of normalizing relations between the two countries,” the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

It said contacts between Armenian and Turkish diplomats are currently “limited to participation in multilateral discussions on various issues on the international agenda.”

The ministry did not comment on the possibility of Turkish-Armenian negotiations in the weeks or months ahead.