Armenian businessmen are celebrating a holiday that they do not advertise, but do not hide their joy in a small circle. The Armenian-Turkish border is opening, albeit partially so far. This means that the goods from Turkey, which flooded Armenian market and networks long time ago, can be imported directly, saving on transiting through third countries. Naturally, after this, the Armenian business will sharply improve.

To recall, the Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 because of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan in Karabakh. From the opening of the border during "perestroika" in the USSR until its closure, thousands of Armenian shuttle traders and local businessmen brought goods from Turkey through the Armenian-Turkish border. After the closure of the border, a humanitarian and economic catastrophe began in blockaded Armenia, causing hundreds of thousands of Armenians to flee the country.

Armenia gradually adapted to living under a blockade, but even Russian economic aid could not compensate for a closed border with its most economically developed neighbour. Today, when Russia has organised aggression against Ukraine and finds itself in international isolation, under sanctions it has, firstly, no capacity to further maintain an "allied" Armenia, and secondly, the Russian Federation itself is in dire need of increased transit through Turkey and a "Turkish window" to the outside world.

The Kremlin has therefore reportedly spoken in favour of opening the border between Armenia and Turkey. The revanchist "war party" in Armenia, which is still "just in case" in Moscow, with its aggressive Turkophobia, simply cannot offer Russia a reasonable economic alternative to the development of transit through Turkey. This includes the new strategic corridors, including the Zangezur corridor.

It is thus natural that on 1 July 2022 the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the governments of Turkey and Armenia had agreed to allow citizens of other countries, but not yet their own, to cross the border between the two countries. The Turkish MFA also stated that the two countries would also allow direct air trade in goods between them as soon as possible. The Russian Federation is also interested in air trade across the Armenian-Turkish border, as there is no doubt that some cargoes will thus travel further to or from Russia by air.

That there will be no Turkish and Armenian citizens crossing the border is a temporary phenomenon. The border is likely to be fully opened after the normalisation of relations and a full peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Naturally, no separatist 'Artsakhs' will, by definition, be legalised with any 'status' on Azerbaijani territory.  Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory. Everything that happens there is an internal affair of Azerbaijan and it will not discuss it. Karabakh Armenians have the right to become full citizens of Azerbaijan, separatists and especially war criminals should be held responsible under Azerbaijan's laws, just like any terrorists, extremists or criminals, irrespective of their nationality.

At the same time, it is Armenian businessmen and entrepreneurs in Armenia itself who will be the first to silence the "Artsakh" separatists and revanchists. As soon as they receive first dividends from direct passage of goods across the Armenian-Turkish border, they will not want to sacrifice their success in business (which was already badly damaged by Armenia's 44-day war and pandemic) for a phantom "miatsum" that has already cost Armenians tens of thousands of young lives ruined in vain.

The Armenian authorities themselves are trying to teach their population that it is possible and necessary to live peacefully side by side with Turks and Azerbaijanis as neighbours. In particular, Arsen Torosyan, former Armenian Minister of Health and an MP from the ruling Citizens' Agreement party, wrote directly on his Facebook page that 'The stereotype that it is impossible to live with a Turk and an Azerbaijani must be broken'.

"We, as a nation, a people and a state, have been told endlessly that we cannot and do not have the right to live in peace with our neighbours. Both internal forces with different agendas and different states kept telling us: "You cannot solve your problems with your neighbours on your own, we have to be present. I think we should break this stereotype and understand that we can take steps towards living peacefully with our neighbours. We are now living with a completely opposite stereotype, that it is simply impossible to live with a Turk, an Azerbaijani. If we can collectively break this stereotype, we can sit down at the negotiating table and find compromise solutions. If we cannot, and they keep telling us that we cannot agree on any norms of coexistence with our two neighbours, especially with Azerbaijan, we will forever remain in a deadlock, which will always bring us new disasters," Arsen Torosyan concludes.

As to the notorious "Artsakh issue", which the extremists and revanchists are still trying to raise, Arsen Torosyan stated that the OSCE Minsk Group, on which the separatists and revanchists hope so much, is dead, without directly announcing that Karabakh is Azerbaijan (Armenian politicians have yet to come to this). In his view, the OSCE Minsk Group "has lost its former viability," including due to geopolitical changes:

"The French and American co-chairmen simply cannot talk to the Russian co-chairman because of the reluctance of the Russian Federation or the opposite side. And for me the constant reference to this format is a bit strange. By doing so we are driving the actual dialogue into a deadlock, which is not in our interests. We cannot afford this luxury now. We must be able to find solutions to the threatening challenges, and not the other way around - postpone these solutions," Torosyan wrote, making clear the relevance of making full-scale peace with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Thus "the ice has been broken". Yerevan and Ankara have already stated that the plan to allow third-country nationals to cross the border "most quickly" is seen as the next step towards final "full normalisation" between the neighbours.

A peace settlement between Armenia on the one hand and Turkey and Azerbaijan on the other is at the finish line. Only such a peace gives the Armenian state a chance for a dignified existence and economic development. But the Armenian population, contaminated by years of nationalist propaganda, needs to be prepared for such a peace, which is what sensible Armenian politicians are beginning to do very carefully.

Kavkazplus