The Council of Europe (CE) welcomes the agreement on diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia. CE Acting Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio strongly welcomed the agreement to sign two protocols between Turkey and Armenia on establishing diplomatic relations. “This is a historic event for both countries and the region. It will help to normalize the relations between two member states of the Council of Europe and I would like to encourage the two countries to continue on the path which will help to improve the stability in this part of Europe,” she said.

The Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on official Ankara's initiative. Turkey sets a number of preconditions for the normalization of bilateral relations, namely, Armenia's abandoning the policy of getting the Armenian Genocide internationally recognized. Turkey also demands that the Armenian side made unilateral concessions over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Late Monday evening, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the Armenian and Turkish foreign offices issued a press release, which particularly reads:

"The Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Armenia have agreed to start internal political consultations regarding the two protocols — the “Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations” and the “Protocol on the development of bilateral relations” — that have been initialed in the course of their efforts under Swiss mediation