Armenia has suggested that Turkey open the land border for holders of diplomatic passports as a first step, but Ankara is hesitating, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan has said.
Hunanyan's comments came after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged Yerevan to take more “bold steps.” Cavusoglu said there was no reason why meetings between the special representatives of the two countries are not held in Turkey or Armenia.
Hunanyan told Armenpress on Friday, April 15 that opening the border for holders of diplomatic passports would be "a small but substantive and logical step.
"We hope it will be possible to achieve a result on this issue," he said.
The spokesperson also confirmed that that the next meeting between the special representatives could indeed take place in Vienna. As soon as the date and the place of the meeting are confirmed for good, the public will be informed properly, he added.
"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," Hunanyan said.
"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."
