Today, a surge of emotions reigns in Armenia. The fact is that the A Haber TV channel quoting Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay stated that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would visit Turkey in March and take part in Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

This news was picked up and spread by the Armenian opposition in order to cause an extremely negative reaction among the Armenian citizens. In social networks, the diplomatic forum in Antalya is called nothing more than a “gathering of Erdogan’s vassals” and they are trying in every possible way to belittle the significance of this event.

Faktyoxla Lab. has tried to figure out whether the participation of the Armenian prime minister at this event is possible, and what the forum in Antalya is like.

According to the forum’s official website, the “Antalya Diplomacy Forum” is a high-level gathering of professionals who deal with diplomacy such as political leaders, diplomats, opinion makers or academics. It presents an excellent platform for regional and global actors from the spheres of diplomacy, policy, and business to exchange ideas and address international challenges. Through various online activities in 2020, the Antalya Diplomacy Forum has already begun to contribute to the global agenda and shape the world of diplomatic thought.

The forum was last held on June 18-20, 2021 under the patronage of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The forum was moderated by the country's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The forum was attended by heads of state and government of 10 countries, foreign ministers of 42 countries, three former heads of state and government, representatives of international structures, high-ranking officials, businessmen, public figures and scientists from different countries.

During the forum, in particular, the problems of global and regional security, the fight against international terrorism, the migration crisis, as well as the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and ways out of it were discussed.

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Đorđe Radulović spoke about the importance of this forum on the sidelines of the forum. He said that the diplomatic forum in Antalya will become a hallmark for Turkey. Radulović noted that all the accumulated issues in relations between the two countries are discussed in a friendly atmosphere, taking into account mutual interests. He noted that the last meeting with his Turkish counterpart made a significant contribution to the development of relations between Podgorica and Ankara. The foreign minister of Montenegro noted the importance of holding such meetings in terms of establishing close ties between the countries and expressed satisfaction with his participation in the forum.

That is, the forum in Antalya has already become a recognized platform for the development of international cooperation. The forum is already being called "Turkish Davos."

Now, let’s switch to the participation of Armenia’s representatives at this event.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the end of January this year that Armenia was also invited to the diplomatic forum, which will be held in Antalya from March 11 to 13.

“We have invited Armenian Foreign Minister Mirzoyan and Special Representative Rubinyan. Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan said that the persons invited by us can take part in the forum. We will be happy,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

“So far, the number of foreign ministers who’ve confirmed participation is 39. We are inviting everyone from all over the world, we’ve also invited guests from our region, from Armenia, Greece, and even the Greek side of Cyprus, from Egypt and Israel,” the Turkish minister said.

That is, the Turkish minister, in addition to Armenia, named a number of countries with which Turkey, to put it mildly, does not have very good relations.

The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs still has no decision whether or not Armenia will participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, the Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan said when asked by a reporter at a joint press conference with visiting Austrian FM Alexander Schallenberg, ARMENPRESS reports.

However, Mirzoyan underscored that the Antalya Diplomacy Forum is not a bilateral format event and it shouldn’t be viewed in the context of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

“Indeed, me and Ruben Rubinyan received an invitation to participate at the Antalya event. By the way, we discussed the event with Mr. Schallenberg today. The Armenian foreign ministry doesn’t have a decision in this regard so far, the issue is under discussion. But it is important to underscore that it’s not a bilateral visit and it shouldn’t be viewed in the context of bilateral relations. This is an international diplomatic event which Armenia could decide to take part in. I won’t see any problem, moreover I think that even if we were to connect it with the Armenia-Turkey dialogue the event would convey nothing but positive tones,” Mirzoyan said.

By the way, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia would most likely accept the invitation to the forum, but it all depends on the situation at the moment.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan's visit to Turkey and participation in the Antalya diplomatic conference is not discussed, spokesman of the MFA Armenia Vahan Hunanyan announced, ARMENPRESS reports.

Hunanyan commented on Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay's statement that Nikol Pashinyan will visit Turkey in March to attend the Antalya Forum. The invitation to that diplomatic meeting has been sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and the special representative of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan.

What are Turkey's expectations from this forum?

Firstly, the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on March 11-13 is expected to become a new platform for solving global political problems, since Turkey recently began a process of normalization with several countries at once in order to ease tensions in the region through diplomacy.

Secondly:

- The Armenian side has already expressed its desire to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions.

- President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Chairman of the Armenian Foundations Union Bedros Sirinoglu in Ankara. After the meeting, Sirinoglu noted that the issue of normalizing relations was not discussed, although it was mulled earlier. Emphasizing that the Armenians in Turkey are very hopeful for normalization, he said: "We are looking forward to the normalization of relations and are laying the foundation for strengthening the brotherhood of the two peoples."

- Since February 2, charter flights have been launched between Turkey and Armenia as part of the normalization of relations between the two countries. The Armenian airline FlyOne Armenia performed the first flight from Yerevan to Istanbul. There were 65 passengers on board the aircraft.

- The special representatives of Turkey and Armenia have already held the first talks in Moscow on the normalization of relations. As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed to continue negotiations without preconditions until full normalization. The special representatives also discussed a further plan of action, including confidence-building measures.

After Pashinyan’s statement that it would be illogical to miss an opportunity in relations with Turkey, it became clear that the forum in Antalya is fulfilling an important mission, laying the foundation for all countries that have disagreements with Turkey or tensions with other global players, for conducting diplomatic negotiations.

In addition, Ankara also confirmed that Turkey hopes to maximize cooperation with Egypt and the Persian Gulf countries "on a mutually beneficial basis."

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum will be held under the motto "Recoding Diplomacy." The forum participants will discuss the most important regional and global issues on the world agenda, provide leaders, politicians, scientists, leading experts, diplomats and business people with the opportunity to discuss international issues from a diplomatic perspective.

From this point of view, the participation of Armenia’s representatives at this event looks quite logical.