Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said that Turkey has not submitted a complaint about the Nemesis Monument through official diplomatic channels, despite Ankara’s insistence that it has conveyed Turkey’s position to Yerevan.
After the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the national heroes of Operation Nemesis, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu condemned its installation and Ankara banned an Armenian airline from carryout overflights through Turkish airspace.
Cavusoglu later insisted that Ankara had conveyed its concerns to Yerevan.
The foreign ministry was responding to queries from Azatutyun.am’s Armenian service, which also asked for clarification about the progress of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey.
“The Republic of Armenia continues to work with Turkey in this direction,” the foreign ministry told Azatutyun.am, without directly addressing the question about when the border between Armenia and Turkey will open to citizens of third countries and those with diplomatic travel credentials.
Ankara had suggested that in closing Turkey’s airspace to an Armenian airline, it also barred travel to Turkey to persons with diplomatic credentials.
Ruben Rubinyan, who is Armenia’s special envoy for the Turkey negotiations had said earlier this spring that both Ankara and Yerevan were anticipating the opening of the border before the summer tourist season.
“The Armenian side continues to carry out work to enable the normal operations of the Margara-Alican border checkpoint,” the foreign ministry told Azatutyun.am.