The United States and Russia have both expressed support for the normalisation of Armenian-Turkish relations following a phone conversation between Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish president Recip Tayip Erdogan.
On Monday, Erdogan and Pashinyan spoke on the phone - the first such contact between the leaders of the two countries for a very long time. During the call, they emphasised the importance of the current talks between their respective countries in contributing to the strengthening of peace and stability in the region. To this end, they expressed their expectation for the earliest implementation of the agreements reached between the special representatives for the normalisation of Armenian-Turkish relations. On 1 July, the two envoys, Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic, met in Vienna, after which it was announced that they had reached an agreement to partly re-open the shared Armenian-Turkish border to citizens of third countries and to begin air cargo transport. It is understood that the phone call between the two leaders was also agreed at the Vienna talks. Both countries issued the same read-out of the conversation afterwards, indicating a certain amount of co-ordination.
Yesterday, the US State department expressed its “strong support” for the ongoing normalisation talks, saying that these had “the potential to increase regional stability, curb adverse impact and lead to a greater economic development that is beneficial to all”. The statement added that the dialogue was particularly important in light of the development with Ukraine.
Moscow also issued a statement, in which it affirmed that Russia was ready to support Armenian-Turkish dialogue in every way going forward, as this would benefit all parties.