Soyak stated, “The people in Armenia are tired of tensions and war policies. The results show that the public is pleased with this current trajectory.” Noting that Pashinyan’s victory was not a surprise to him, Soyak said, “It feels to me like the stable course has been approved by the public. In a program featuring the leaders two or three days before the election, when asked 'What is the five-year plan? Where do you see Armenia?', I think Pashinyan was the only one who was able to answer. I don't think the expected sweeping majority happened, but it was enough for him to win the election.”
Prior to the election, on June 2, the "Turkey-Armenia Businesspeople Meeting" was hosted by the Kars Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The meeting was attended by Ayşe Uzer, Deputy Director General for the Caucasus at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Hayk Darbinyan, Advisor to the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs; and officials from the chambers of commerce of Kars, Erzurum, Iğdır, and Ardahan. While messages of normalization were delivered at the meeting, the parties emphasized that dialogue is crucial for strengthening hopes for a shared future. Soyak, who mentioned he could not attend the meeting but was involved in the initial process, stated that they are beginning to reap the fruits of the wholesale agricultural products project they conducted back in 2001.
Soyak continued: “In 2001, we did a project called the wholesale agricultural products market. We compared the agricultural products of Turkey's border regions with Armenia's border regions. We sought answers to the question of what grows there versus what grows here. We focused on the questions of who would sell their goods where and what each side needed if the mutual borders were to open. We traveled village by village, covering the entire Erzurum, Kars, Ardahan, and Iğdır regions, and the Gyumri and Lori regions in Armenia. We produced these results 25 years ago. Coming to the present day, those results are proving useful.”
“The Two Countries Lost 30 Years”
Soyak noted, “Armenia sees Turkey as its gateway to Europe. Turkey also sees Armenia as its gateway to Azerbaijan, the Caspian basin, and Central Asia. I believe these two mindsets will ultimately win out. The two countries lost 30 years. Their shared role is to establish a transit bridge between the East and the West.”
Stating that the Turkey-Armenia border gate should have been opened long ago but is waiting for certain hurdles to be cleared, Soyak said, “This needs to become a reality and reflect positively on the people of the region.”
Regarding Russia's pre-election restrictions on agricultural products imported from Armenia, Soyak offered the following commentary:
“The thought that relations with Russia would completely break off never crossed my mind. That is very difficult. It will find a balance. Major crises can happen between any countries, but then they get resolved. The same thing happened to us; tomatoes from Turkey were sent back by Russia. Things got tense all of a sudden, but then they improved. I am sure Russia will have a takeaway from the Trump Corridor project. A way will be found.”
