Turkish and Armenian officials met last month to explore the possibility of restoring a rail link between their countries as part of attempts to normalize bilateral relations, Armenia’s deputy parliament speaker Ruben Rubinian said on Tuesday.
Rubinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the meeting took place on the Armenian-Turkish border “in a positive and constructive atmosphere.” It focused on “technical requirements” for restoring the railway that has not functioned since 1993, he said without giving details. Neither Ankara nor Yerevan had reported the meeting earlier.
Negotiators from the two sides led by Rubinian and Turkish diplomat Serdar Kilic agreed to “assess” the feasibility of restoring the rail link when they met on the border in July. They also “reconfirmed the agreements reached at their previous meetings,” according to identical Turkish and Armenia readouts of that meeting.
