The governments of Turkey and Armenia on Wednesday expressed their willingness to accelerate the process of normalization of relations, in the framework of a historic visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoian, after Yerevan announced the delivery of aid to the victims of last week’s earthquakes.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that the visit of his Armenian counterpart «is very significant» and praised Armenia’s delivery of aid. «Armenia has said it will deliver additional aid. We thank them for that. Armenia has shown solidarity and cooperation in these difficult days,» he maintained.
«We need to maintain this solidarity. The process of normalization continues in the South Caucasus,» Cavusoglu has defended, who has indicated that «the process of normalization of relations by Armenia with Turkey and Azerbaijan will contribute to peace and prosperity in the region,» Turkish daily ‘Hurriyet’ has reported.
For his part, Mirzoian reiterated Armenia’s willingness to «build peace in the region» and «fully normalize and establish diplomatic relations with Turkey», while showing Yerevan’s willingness to «fully open» the border between the two countries.
«We have discussed certain issues related to this process and we have an agreement to restore the Ani Bridge through joint efforts and address the respective infrastructures in view of the full reopening of the border,» he said, as reported by Armenian news agency Armenpress.
Mirzoian has conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims of the earthquakes and advocated that «the world should act in a unified front» whenever there is a natural disaster.» «I believe that the international community should not remain indifferent to the humanitarian crises that take place anywhere in the world,» he concluded.
Turkey and Armenia have been engaged for months in a process to normalize their relations, severely damaged by Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and by Ankara’s refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide committed by the former Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
