In virtually identical statements, the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries gave few details of the talks held by veteran Turkish diplomat Serdar Kilic and Ruben Rubinian, a deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament.
“The Special Representatives confirmed that the ultimate goal of the negotiations is to achieve full normalization between Turkey and Armenia, as agreed during their first meeting in Moscow [on January 14,]” read the statements. “They exchanged views on possible concrete steps that can be mutually taken to that end and reiterated their agreement to continue the process without preconditions.”
There was no word on the date and venue of the next round of the talks between Kilic and Rubinian.
Ankara and Yerevan had described their January 14 meeting as “positive and constructive.” Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan afterwards voiced cautious optimism over the success of the dialogue welcomed by Russia, the United States and the European Union.
Ankara has for decades linked the establishment of diplomatic relations with Yerevan and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border to a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on February 10 that his government will continue to coordinate the Turkish-Armenian normalization talks with Baku.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said earlier this week that he is ready to improve relations if Armenia if the latter is “determined to continue the process that has started with the special representatives.”
“We are pleased with the will of Armenia to normalize [relations] with us,” he said, according to Turkish media.