The third meeting of the special representatives for the normalisation of Armenian-Turkish relations was held in Vienna earlier today (3 May).
During the meeting, the Armenian envoy, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Ruben Rubinyan, and his Turkish counterpart, Ambassador Serdar Kılıç, reaffirmed their shared goal of a full normalisation of relations through the current process. The diplomatic readouts note that the interlocutors had sincere and productive discussions, during which they exchanged concrete views and discussed possible steps going forward.
They also reiterated the agreement to continue the process without any preconditions.
There was no reference to the re-demarcation of the Armenian-Turkish border. Over the weekend, the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, had said that the issue would be on the agenda for today’s talks, adding that the neighbours may even set up a bilateral commission. This comes after his comments earlier last month that sections of the border might need to be demarcated again because the Arax river has changed course as the result of floods.
However, this speculation was quickly dismissed by Yerevan. Vahan Hunanian, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that there had been no discussions or agreements on this issue, and that it was not currently on the agenda for the talks.