Armenian-Turkish border may open to citizens of third countries soon - Armenian Foreign Ministry

YEREVAN. Nov 3 (Interfax) - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said he expects the Turkish border to open to citizens of third countries and holders of diplomatic passports soon.

"Armenia and Turkey are holding active discussions at the level of experts, and also at the level of special representatives from the two countries. We are talking about opening the Armenian-Turkish border to holders of diplomatic passports and citizens of third countries," Mirzoyan said in the parliament on Thursday.

Headway has been made in this direction, he said.

"I expect and I hope for positive results in the near future," Mirzoyan said.

On July 1, the Armenian and Turkish special representatives for the normalization of bilateral relations, Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic, respectively, met in Vienna and agreed to ensure as early as possible the possibility of crossing the Armenian-Turkish land border by third-country citizens and to launch direct cargo flights between Armenia and Turkey.

The two countries do not have diplomatic relations and their joint border has been closed since 1993 at Ankara's initiative over the conflict in Karabakh. The first meeting of their special representatives took place in Moscow on January 14 of this year.