MEP calls on Turkiye to stop linking Armenia border opening with Azerbaijan normalization

MEP Nils Ušakovs on Tuesday urged Turkiye to separate the opening of the border with Armenia from the Yerevan-Baku normalization process.

Speaking at the 4th Meeting of EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, Ušakovs, the co-chair of the committee, said, “We call on Ankara to separate border issues from the Armenia-Azerbaijan relations agenda.”

In 2022, Armenia and Turkiye reached an agreement on opening their land border for citizens of third countries and diplomatic passport holders. The agreement is yet to be implemented, but Turkiye has numerously said afterwards that it will open its border with Armenia only after the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan are normalized.

Ušakovs emphasized that the EU is interested in the Armenian government’s Crossroads of Peace initiative, describing the implementation of the project as highly important for the entire region.

He highlighted that Armenia must be able to freely chose a European future, which implies also economic diversification, which is yet another reason to focus on opening of connection routes.