Pashinyan and Erdogan Discuss Normalization Efforts

YEREVAN — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed efforts to normalize relations between their countries in a phone call on Wednesday.

Pashinyan was reported to congratulate Erdogan on the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday. In response the Turkish President congratulated the Armenian Prime Minister on the upcoming Vardavar, the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, the press service of the Armenian government reported.

Pashinyan’s office said the two leaders discussed the process of normalization of relations between the two countries. In this context, they touched upon the implementation of the agreement on opening the land border for holders of diplomatic passports and citizens of third countries.

Ankara and Yerevan reached the agreement last July after several rounds of negotiations held by their special envoys. They have still not said when it will be put into practice.

According to a Turkish readout of the phone call cited by the Anatolia news agency, Erdogan told Pashinyan that the two neighboring states should continue to take “confidence-building measures.” No other details were reported.

Although Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet Union, the countries have no diplomatic ties and Turkey shut down their common border in 1993, in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.