Rubinyan Says He Will No Longer Negotiate with Turkey if Elected National Assembly Speaker

YEREVAN — Ruben Rubinyan will no longer serve as Armenia’s special representative in the Armenia-Turkey normalization process if he is elected speaker of the National Assembly. Rubinyan made the statement during a briefing with journalists at the National Assembly on July 3.

“Since I have been nominated as a candidate for speaker of the National Assembly, if elected, I will not continue serving as Armenia’s special representative in negotiations with Turkey,” Rubinyan said.

Rubinyan was nominated as the candidate for speaker of the National Assembly on June 25, following a secret ballot during a meeting of the Civil Contract party’s board.

The Armenia-Turkey normalization process began in early 2022, when Armenia’s representative, Ruben Rubinyan, and Turkey’s representative, Serdar Kılıç, held their first meeting in Moscow. In July 2022, they reached an agreement to open the border to citizens of third countries and holders of diplomatic passports, but the agreement has not yet been implemented.

During the same briefing, Rubinyan also addressed claims that he had studied in Turkey.

“I did not attend university in Turkey. I do not have a Turkish certificate, and there is no one there who taught me,” Rubinyan said.

“I have heard many absurd claims, which I addressed eight years ago and again five years ago. They say that I studied in Turkey and spent my student years there,” he said.

“They are lying. I spent my student years first in Armenia while studying at Yerevan State University, then in London while completing my master’s degree, and later in Poland. I did not attend university in Turkey. I did not study anything in Turkey. I do not have a Turkish certificate, and there is no person who taught me in Turkey,” Rubinyan said.

He added that he had only participated in a program organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation in 2016-2017.