We must institutionalise peace with Azerbaijan, and the border with Türkiye should be opened, says Nikol Pashinyan

The Armenian people voted in favour of peace, regional development and cooperation in the parliamentary elections that have now concluded.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made the statement at a press conference in response to a question from a Turkish journalist about what message he had for Türkiye and Azerbaijan following Armenia’s parliamentary elections.

“The Armenian people voted in favour of peace, regional development and cooperation in the parliamentary elections that have concluded. I hope there will be positive responses to this from both Türkiye and Azerbaijan.

We must institutionalise peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we must open our border with Türkiye - I mean that Türkiye should open the border. We must also establish diplomatic relations.

By the way, we are grateful for the decision to open the Akhalkalaki-Kars railway for the import and export of Armenian goods. We have very good dynamics with Türkiye, but we must continue this dynamic in order to establish diplomatic relations and have a fully open border,” Pashinyan said.

The prime minister recalled that Armenia and Azerbaijan have already initialled a peace agreement.

“We must sign it. We must begin the TRIPP project as soon as possible. It is a pivotal regional project, which would mean that the blockade of our region has been overcome. This is very important news because our region is being transformed from a dead end into a crossroads,” the Armenian prime minister said.