US welcomes meeting of Turkish, Armenian representatives

The U.S. on Wednesday welcomed a meeting between Turkish and Armenian special representatives at their long-closed border, calling the normalization talks a "positive step in bringing peace and stability to the South Caucasus."

"We welcome this meeting. The United States would consider Türkiye-Armenia normalization a positive step in bringing peace and stability to the South Caucasus," a State Department spokesperson told Anadolu.

"Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to make significant progress toward finalizing a peace agreement, and we are committed to supporting that process. The time for peace is now," the spokesperson added.

Special representatives from Türkiye and Armenia — Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kılıç and Armenian parliament Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan — met Tuesday at their countries' shared border for the fifth round of talks to normalize their long-strained relations.

The two sides "reemphasized their agreement to continue the normalization process without any preconditions towards achieving the ultimate goal of full normalization between their respective countries," the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministries said in identical statements.

They also agreed to "assess the technical requirements to enable the functioning of the Akhurik/Akyaka railroad border gate in line with regional developments as well as to simplify their mutual visa procedures for diplomatic/official passport holders," the statement said.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Türkiye was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia's independence on Sept. 21, 1991.

But following the 1993 occupation by Armenian forces of the Karabakh region, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, Türkiye closed its border...