The upcoming visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Turkey means the parties are close to improving and establishing diplomatic relations. Political scientist Armen Vardanyan said in an interview with Radar Armenia.

"As I understand it, it will be an official visit. So far, Pashinyan has visited Turkey several times, but only to the inauguration ceremony of the Turkish president at the diplomatic forum in Antalya. It is also historic in that there will most likely be an official reciprocal visit from the Turkish side. It is a diplomatic visit, not to participate in some event. Although they call each other, there are visits from Armenia, but diplomatic relations are not established. I do not exclude that diplomatic relations will be established during these visits, and the parties will decide to establish embassies," Vardanyan said.

The political scientist noted that the prospect of opening the Armenian-Turkish border should be approached with cautious optimism.

"The opening of the border depends more on Azerbaijan's green light. We know that Azerbaijan is the one who solves this issue, influences Turkey, and vetoes the opening of the border. Moreover, Aliyev does not particularly hide it. He says the key to improving Armenian-Turkish relations lies in Baku—the key to improvement and the border opening. So, I will still express cautious optimism about this. I hope the border will be opened, but I am not 100% sure because, in this case, the tail is more like the dog than the other way around. Aliyev has set a condition for Erdogan and is not allowing the Armenia-Turkey border to be opened," the political scientist said.

Angela Poghosyan