Turkey, Armenia positive after talks on normalization of relations

Turkey and Armenia met at a high level. The two foreign ministers, Cavusoglu and Mirzoyan, met at a diplomatic conference in the Turkish resort of Antalya. The goal was to improve mutual relations. After that, they both tested positive.

Cavusoglu spoke of “productive and constructive” consultations with his Armenian colleague after the thirty-minute interview. Mirzoyan described the Turkish invitation as a “positive signal”. The meeting in Antalya, where discussions on Ukraine were held earlier in the week, is a follow-up to a meeting in January.

There have been no diplomatic and commercial relations between Turkey and Armenia for decades. There is no traffic at the border. In 2009, the two countries reached an agreement on reconciliation, but it was never ratified.

Armenian Genocide

The main point of contention between the two countries is the Armenian Genocide. From April 1915, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, the forerunner of modern Turkey, Armenians were expelled from their homelands. 1 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed. Armenians see this as genocide and many countries, including the Netherlands, are aware of this. Turkey acknowledges many Armenian casualties, but says there was no systematic genocide.

Tensions between the two countries escalated again in 2020 in the wake of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey accused the Armenian soldiers of occupying Azerbaijani lands. Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has a corridor to Armenia. The population is made up of ethnic Armenians.