Earlier today (2 March), the Armenian foreign minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, provided information on the outcomes of the second meeting between the Armenian and Turkish special representatives for the normalisation of relations.
Speaking during a government Q&A session, Mirzoyan said that he had assessed the meeting as “positive”, and that the discussions had been much more specific than during the first meeting. Nevertheless, he cautioned that it was still difficult to expect very tangible results, given that this process aimed at providing solutions to problems which had lasted for decades. He added that a date had not yet been agreed for the next meeting.
Statements from the Foreign Ministries of both countries following the second meeting on 24 February said that the ultimate goal of the negotiations was to achieve a full normalisation of relations between the two countries without preconditions, adding that the sides had exchanged views on possible concrete steps which could be mutually implemented to that end.
Mirzoyan also noted today that the Armenian government had not yet decided whether it would attend the upcoming Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Turkey, because “events in our world are developing and changing very rapidly”. He said that a decision would be taken closer to the deadline. Armenia’s willingness to attend the forum is seen as hinging on the successful development of the normalisation process with Turkey. A decision to attend would therefore signal that the talks are heading in the right direction.