“During the meeting, the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey was discussed and readiness to achieve their full normalization was reaffirmed,” read a statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
Mirzoyan and Fidan “exchanged views on possible concrete steps in that direction,” added the statement. It did not say whether any agreements were reached by them.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry did not immediately issue a statement on the Antalya meeting.
The two ministers previously held talks in Tehran last October on the fringes of a multilateral meeting of the top diplomats of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkey. The five countries make up the so-called “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3” launched in December 2021 in Moscow.
Shortly after the Tehran talks, Mirzoyan said that there may soon be “some good news” on the implementation of interim normalization agreements reached by Ankara and Yerevan in 2022. But he complained in January that the Turkish side is still dragging its feet over their implementation.
One of those agreements calls for the opening of the Turkish-Armenia border for holders of Armenian or Turkish diplomatic passport as well as citizens of third countries. Another agreement reached by Turkish and Armenian negotiators envisaged air freight traffic between the two neighboring nations. There have been no signs of its implementation, even though the Turkish government officially allowed cargo shipments by air to and from Armenia in January 2023.
The agreements were the result of several rounds of negotiations held by Turkish and Armenian special envoys, Serdar Kilic and Ruben Rubinian. Both men spoke during a panel discussion in Antalya held earlier on Friday.
Kilic publicly proposed that he and Rubinian meet in Yerevan next week. The Armenian official was noncommittal on the proposal.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other leaders have repeatedly made clear that further progress in the normalization process is contingent on the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord sought by Azerbaijan. Speaking at a November summit of the leaders of Turkic states in Kazakhstan, Erdogan also demanded that Armenia open an extraterritorial corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. Yerevan continues to reject these demands.