Armenia-Azerbaijan process now further advanced than Armenia-Türkiye process, Rubinyan says

Ruben Rubinyan, candidate for Speaker of the National Assembly, has expressed confidence that the full normalisation of relations between Armenia and Türkiye is only a matter of time and is now very close.

Rubinyan made the remarks during the inaugural session of the ninth-convocation National Assembly in response to a question from Gegham Manukyan, a lawmaker from the Armenia faction.

Manukyan said the Armenia-Türkiye normalisation process had initially been presented as negotiations without preconditions but argued that Türkiye continued to link the process to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.

“Over the past four years, Türkiye has made progress on all aspects of its policy conditional on the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This demonstrates that the phrase ‘without preconditions’ does not reflect reality, and Türkiye continues to speak to Armenia with preconditions while also exerting pressure on Armenia,” Manukyan said.

According to him, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Türkiye remains unresolved.

Responding to the question, Rubinyan agreed that statements had been made by Türkiye and continue to be made from time to time linking the Armenia-Türkiye normalisation process to other developments.

“You are right that statements have been made by Türkiye, and are still made from time to time, linking the normalisation of Armenia-Türkiye relations to other processes,” he said.

According to Rubinyan, the Armenia-Azerbaijan process is currently further advanced than the Armenia-Türkiye normalisation process.

“In the Armenia-Azerbaijan process, for example, the Azerbaijani side lifted restrictions on railway transit from Armenia earlier than Türkiye did. Türkiye later did the same. There is now also direct trade between Armenia and Azerbaijan-I mean petroleum products,” Rubinyan said.

According to him, the time has come for Türkiye to take more active steps in the Armenia-Türkiye normalisation process.

“I cannot point to any reason why Armenia and Türkiye should not establish diplomatic relations as early as tomorrow, or why the Armenia-Türkiye border should not be open as early as tomorrow,” he said.

Rubinyan acknowledged that the process had not progressed at the pace the Armenian side would have wished.

“Has the process moved at the pace that we, or I, would have liked to see? No. I would have liked the process to have been completed years ago. But you will agree that the Armenia-Türkiye process has been a complicated one and that, in fact, every Armenian government since the first years of the country’s independence, including your government, has sought to bring it to a successful conclusion.

I am convinced that the full normalisation of Armenia-Türkiye relations is only a matter of time, and that this normalisation is very close,” he concluded.