Turkey-Armenia – Central News Hub

Turkey says quake support could help mend Armenia ties

The relations between Turkey and Armenia were severed in 1993 during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh…reports Asian Lite News

Armenia’s humanitarian support to victims of last week’s massive earthquakes in southern Turkey can further contribute to the normalisation of relations between the two neighbours, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

“This understanding of cooperation can contribute to our ongoing normalization process,” Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in the Turkish capital Ankara, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cavusoglu also thanked Armenia for sending search and rescue teams to save quake victims and delivering humanitarian aid immediately after Turkey was rocked by the strong tremors.

Turkish, Armenian FMs discuss ways to end decades-old hostilities

“Armenia has offered a hand of friendship and solidarity in our difficult time,” he said.

“We have agreed to take steps to accelerate the normalization (of ties),” the Turkish minister said, referring to the dialogue launched last year aimed at ending their decades-old hostilities.

Turkey and Armenia will reconstruct the bridges and roads connecting the border, he said.

Mirzoyan paid a visit to Turkey on Wednesday after the devastating earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria on February 6. It is Mirzoyan’s second trip to Turkey after meeting Cavusoglu in an international forum in March last year.

“Being in Turkey in these difficult times, I would like to once again confirm our willingness to build peace, for the full normalisation and opening the borders between Turkey and Armenia,” said the Armenian top diplomat.

In a symbolic act, the border between Turkey and Armenia, which had been closed for more than 30 years, was opened on Saturday to allow the delivery of Armenia’s humanitarian aid to quake-hit Turkey, Mirzoyan said, adding the second batch of Armenian aid crossed the border on Tuesday night.

The relations between Turkey and Armenia were severed in 1993 during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ankara closed its border with Armenia to show support for Azerbaijan.

Opening the border was one of the key issues Armenia demanded since last year as the two countries stepped up the normalisation dialogue.

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Closed for 30 years, Turkey-Armenia border reopens for quake aid

An Armenian delegation with five trucks of aid has entered Turkey through the Alican Border Gate in the eastern province of Igdir…reports Asian Lite News

A border gate between Turkey and Armenia has been opened for the first time in 30 years for the passage of humanitarian assistance for victims of the devastating earthquakes hitting southern Turkey, the state-run Anadolu News Agency reported.

An Armenian delegation with five trucks of aid has entered Turkey through the Alican Border Gate in the eastern province of Igdir, the report said on Saturday.

The Armenian aid delegation carrying 100 tonne of food, medicine, and drinking water passed through the gate in the morning toward the southeastern province of Adiyaman, according to a tweet on Saturday by Serdar Kilic, Turkey’s special representative for normalisation talks with Armenia.

On Tuesday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered condolences and support to the Turkish people in a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Xinhua news agency reported.

Armenia has sent 27 rescuers to quake-hit Turkey to assist in the search-and-rescue operations, the country’s Internal Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday.

The Alican Border Gate was last used in the 1988 earthquake in Armenia when the Turkish Red Crescent crossed the border gate to dispatch aid to disaster areas.

Turkey severed diplomatic relations and closed the border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan which was fighting a war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, before the two neighbours launched talks for the re-normalisation of relations in 2022.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has gone past 34,000 as rescue efforts continue, reported CNN.

It reached at least 34,179 on Sunday (local time). The death toll in Turkey has reached 29,605, said the Turkish Emergency Coordination Center SAKOM. The confirmed death toll in Syria is 4,574. That number includes more than 3,160 in opposition-held parts of northwestern Syria, according to the health ministry of the Salvation Government governance authority.

The Syrian death toll also includes 1,414 deaths in government-controlled parts of Syria, according to the state news agency SANA.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is waiting for final approval to send crossline deliveries into northwest Syria, where rebel groups in the country’s long-running civil war control territory and aid deliveries have faced obstacles, reported CNN.

The WHO hopes its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will soon be able to travel into the rebel-held areas hit by the devastating earthquake, the organization said Sunday.

However, in the midst of tragedy, there have been miraculous scenes of survival and rescue, even days after the quake.

A 10-year-old girl was rescued after 147 hours under the rubble, the latest in a series of harrowing stories of success as workers in Turkey continue to search for survivors.

A teenage girl, Ayse (Reem Khaled Naasani), was rescued in Hatay Sunday some 162 hours after the quake, according to the Istanbul mayor. And a 50-year-old woman named Guler Agritmis was also rescued Sunday after spending days under the rubble, the Turkish state broadcaster TRT reports.

A two months old baby was rescued in Turkey’s Hatay province 108 hours after the deadly earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, according to Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Sunday.

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