The representatives of the relevant departments of Armenia and Turkey will meet soon to assess the conditions for the resumption of the Gyumri-Kars railway. Ruben Rubinyan, deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament and Armenia’s special representative for the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, told this to the RFE/RL Armenian service.

According to him, however, the date of this meeting has not been set yet.

"As we have done in the past, for example, a joint study on the Margara Bridge [on the Armenian-Turkish border], soon there will be an interdepartmental meeting of the representatives of Armenia and Turkey for such study so that we implement this arrangement. I mean to assess the conditions necessary for the resumption of the Gyumri-Kars railway," said Rubinyan.

Ruben Rubinyan, who had stated last month that Armenia expects political will from Turkey regarding the normalization of relations, spoke in general this time. He said that the discussions help the parties to better understand each other's positions.

And if there is no political will and the agreements reached have not been implemented, then what are the expectations from the new programs?

"We expect that all the agreements we reached will be implemented, and in general we expect that the normalization process will end with the establishment of diplomatic relations and the [re]opening of borders [between Armenia and Turkey]. We [i.e. Armenia] are ready to do it tomorrow," Rubinyan said.