Is there an agreement between the parties to open the Armenian-Turkish land border for citizens of third countries and persons with diplomatic passports before the beginning of summer? After the Turkish Foreign Minister's call for the dismantling of the ‘Nemesis’ monument, were the arrangements not cancelled? In response to the questions, during the NA briefing regarding the Black Sea Economic Forum, ‘Civil Contract’ MP Gevorg Papoyan stated that he has no information about the cancellation of the agreements.
“It is being discussed a lot whether Armenia should open the Armenian-Turkish border or not. If it were not beneficial for Armenia, Turkey would open the border in five seconds, because it’s not Armenia who closed the Armenia-Turkey border, it was closed by Turkey, because that’s how it is economically pressuring Armenia. They’ve never concealed this, they are supporting Azerbaijan by doing so," Papoyan said, then added that this shows that the narrative that Armenia the opening of the Turkish border will have some kind of apocalyptic consequences for Armenia, it is ridiculous and has nothing to do with reality.
"The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will lead to the economic development of Armenia. It will lead to the creation of jobs, it will lead to the development of businesses, it will lead to an increase in taxes, it will lead to a significant improvement in the social condition of people. And, of course, in order to support Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue, Turkey has kept the Armenian-Turkish border closed for many years,” said Papoyan.
He also mentioned that if Turkey knew even today that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border would bring harm to Armenia and only benefit to them, it would naturally open it. Therefore, Turkey, realizing that the opening of the border favors Armenia, makes demands and looks for opportunities not to open the border.
Papoyan also reaffirmed that, nevertheless, the Armenian side’s agenda issue remains the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations without preconditions. It is also the primary clause of the Armenian foreign policy.
