Pashinyan orders soonest implementation of agreement to open Armenian-Turkish border

YEREVAN. July 7 (Interfax) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has tasked government agencies with starting to work with Turkey on the border opening for citizens of third countries.

"It is important that our agencies start working with the respective agencies in Turkey. There is a political agreement to open the Armenian-Turkish border for citizens of third countries and to begin direct cargo flights between Armenia and Turkey," Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.

The implementation of these agreements will depend on the work of agencies in both countries, he said.

"I order the beginning of coordinated work to implement the agreements as soon as possible," Pashinyan said.

The special representatives of Armenia and Turkey on the normalization of relations, Ruben Rubiyan and Serdar Kilic, agreed at a meeting in Vienna on July 1 on the soonest opening of the land border between Armenia and Turkey for citizens of third countries visiting both states and on the soonest beginning of direct cargo flights between Armenia and Turkey.

There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, and the border has been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Ankara over the Karabakh conflict. The first meeting of the Armenian and Turkish special representatives took place in Moscow on January 14.