The next meeting of the Special Representatives of Armenia and Turkey may take place in Vienna. Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan stated about this in an interview with Armenpress news agency—and regarding the process of the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations.

“There is a preliminary understanding between the sides that the next meeting may take place in Vienna. As soon as the date and the place of the meeting are finally confirmed the public will be informed properly,” Hunanyan said.

And when asked about Armenia’s position on the Turkish foreign minister’s statement—during and interview—that they would like the aforesaid meeting to take place in Armenia or Turkey, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson said as follows: 

“During the previous attempts of normalization, the meetings were held in Armenia and Turkey, both at the level of negotiators and even presidents, but, as you know, no result has been achieved. I mean, the important thing is the political will to reach a normalization and the readiness to undertake clear concrete steps. We demonstrate both, and we expect the same from Turkey. If there is a will, the place of the meeting will become a purely logistic issue.

“Moreover, the proposal of holding the meetings of the special representatives in Armenia and Turkey indicates that in Turkey's perception, the process is solely bilateral. In this case, it would be logical not to observe almost weekly statements of the representatives of Turkey that they advance the process in coordination with Azerbaijan.”

As for Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu's statement that "courageous" steps are needed for the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson noted as follows:

“The Armenian side fully concurs with the need for making courageous steps. We have numerously showed readiness to move forward, including with the participation of our Foreign Minister in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and the lifting of the economic embargo. The restoration of flights between Armenia and Turkey was also an important bilateral step.

“We are convinced that the only path for moving forward implies continuous, clear steps. For example, we offered the Turkish side, for the first phase, to open the land border for persons holding diplomatic passports, however the Turkish side is delaying. We believe that this would be a small but substantive, most importantly logical step. We are hopeful that it will be possible to achieve results in this issue.”

15 April 2022 / 13:49