US welcomes meeting of Turkish, Armenian representatives as 'positive step' toward peace in South Caucasus

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US on Wednesday welcomed a meeting between Turkish and Armenian special representatives at their long-closed border, calling the normalization talks a "positive step in bringing peace and stability to the South Caucasus.”

"We welcome this meeting. The United States would consider Türkiye-Armenia normalization a positive step in bringing peace and stability to the South Caucasus," a State Department spokesperson told Anadolu.

"Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to make significant progress toward finalizing a peace agreement, and we are committed to supporting that process. The time for peace is now," the spokesperson added.

Special representatives from Türkiye and Armenia -- Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic and Armenian parliament Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan -- met Tuesday at their countries' shared border for the fifth round of talks to normalize their long-strained relations.

The two sides "reemphasized their agreement to continue the normalization process without any preconditions towards achieving the ultimate goal of full normalization between their respective countries,” the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministries said in identical statements.

They also agreed to "assess the technical requirements to enable the functioning of the Akhurik/Akyaka railroad border gate in line with regional developments as well as to simplify their mutual visa procedures for diplomatic/official passport holders,” the statement said.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Türkiye was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence on Sept. 21, 1991.

But following the 1993 occupation by Armenian forces of the Karabakh region, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, Türkiye closed its border with Armenia and severed diplomatic and commercial relations. There are other contentious issues, including the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.

On Oct. 10, 2009, the two countries signed a peace accord, known as the Zurich Protocols, to establish diplomatic relations and open the border but failed to ratify the agreement in their respective national parliaments.

Fast forward to the fall of 2020 and the end of the 44-day second Karabakh war, which helped Azerbaijan recapture its territory and put Turkish-Armenian relations in a new phase.

Kilic and Rubinyan first met on Jan. 14 in Moscow and the second meeting was held in Vienna on Feb. 24.