Armenia Sees No Reason for Delay in Opening Armenian-Turkish Borders – Rubinyan

YEREVAN — Armenia sees no reason why Turkey should delay the opening of borders and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia, stated Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia’s Special Representative in the normalization process with Turkey and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, during a briefing with journalists.

Rubinyan is scheduled to meet his Turkish counterpart, Serdar Kılıç, in Armenia in the coming days. While he did not disclose the exact date or location of the talks, he stressed that the agenda would cover the full spectrum of normalization issues.

“I see no reason why Turkey should delay this issue. At least on the Armenian side, there is no obstacle or hesitation. We are ready to have open borders and established diplomatic relations as early as tomorrow. By the way, we recently established diplomatic relations with Pakistan, which was also a very significant event. I hope we will take a similar step with Turkey,” Rubinyan emphasized.

According to him, if there is political will, the process can be implemented very quickly.
“On our side, that will definitely exists, and I am convinced that great results can be achieved in a short time,” Rubinyan added.

He underscored that Armenia continues the normalization process with Turkey without preconditions and dismissed suggestions that Turkey had raised new conditions in recent rounds of talks.
“We have repeatedly stated that the process is proceeding without preconditions. We also have no preconditions from our side and believe it is possible to very quickly achieve open borders and established diplomatic relations. We will continue working in that direction,” Rubinyan concluded.

Asked whether the recently signed Washington agreements and the Washington Declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan could serve as an impetus for progress with Turkey, Rubinyan replied: “These are very important developments. They will have a positive impact not only on regional processes but also beyond the region. In this sense, we are optimistic that concrete steps will follow.”

Rubinyan also confirmed that the earlier agreement to allow third-country nationals and holders of diplomatic passports to cross the Armenia–Turkey border has not yet been implemented. “Whether it was due to us or not, it still hasn’t been carried out. But we hope it will be realized,” he said.