Turkey appoints former US envoy for normalization with Armenia

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced that former Washington Ambassador Serdar Kılıç will be appointed as a special representative within the scope of the normalization process with Armenia.

Mutual statements were made with Armenia within the scope of normalization, Çavuşoğlu told during his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Dec. 15.

“We consult with Azerbaijan on every issue and take such steps within the knowledge of Azerbaijan. Nobody should question whether we can act independently or separately from Azerbaijan. We are one nation, two states. These positive things will benefit us all,” he said.

Emphasizing the need to take confidence-building steps, Çavuşoğlu said: “On the one hand, steps are being taken to increase confidence between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and on the other hand, we have benefited by taking steps to increase confidence between Azerbaijan and Armenia and between us and Armenia.”

Stating that airline companies from Turkey and Armenia have applied for flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, Çavuşoğlu said: “Our Transportation Ministry and the General Directorate of Civil Aviation evaluate these. In principle, we take a positive view. Which ones will be able to fly, it will be announced in the coming days.”

The minister expressed hope that Armenia would take positive steps towards the peace and tranquility of the region.

Ankara and Yerevan have no diplomatic ties, and Turkey shut down their common border in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2009, Ankara and Yerevan signed “Zurich Protocols” to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their joint border, but Turkey later said it could not ratify the deal until Armenia withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Last year, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Erdoğan to visit UAE in Feb, 2022

Officials from Turkey and the UAE are working on a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the UAE on Feb. 14-15, the minister said, noting that they plan to organize a Turkey national day event at Expo 2020 on Feb. 15.

The relations between Turkey and the UAE had not been at the desired level in recent years, but recently they have shown interest in normalizing relations, Çavuşoğlu said.

Noting that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to Ankara was also very successful, Çavuşoğlu stated that Turkish businesspeople he met during his visit to the UAE were not subject to restrictions even when relations were not good.

Çavuşoğlu said that he came to Abu Dhabi after meeting in Dubai with the emir of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as part of his visit to the UAE.

“It was a very fruitful meeting. We discussed issues related to our economic cooperation and relations, especially investment, trade and other issues. There are agreements that we will sign in the upcoming period; we discussed issues such as a comprehensive trade agreement related to road transport,” Çavuşoğlu added.