The Turkish news website Hürriyet claims that the special representatives of Turkey and Armenia (Serdar Kılıç and Ruben Rubinyan) have talked by telephone 500 times since talks to normalize relations between the two countries began in January of this year.

Hürriyet does not mention any source for this claim, only writing:

“On the other hand, it has been learned that Ambassador Serdar Kılıç, who carries out the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia, and Ruben Rubinyan, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, met once in Moscow and 3 times in Vienna, while the two had talked on the phone more than 500 times to date.”

Hürriyet, in an article published yesterday, says the two representatives will meet in September to “exchange views on technical issues”. No location for the meeting was specified.

At their July meeting in Vienna, the sides reached an agreement to start direct air cargo transportation between the two countries and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border to third country citizens.

The website, again not specifying its source, writes that Turkish officials have referred to the Alican Bridge as one possible border crossing.

The bridge, located between the Karakoyunlu district of Iğdır and the town of Margara in Armenia, was last used to deliver humanitarian aid from Turkey following the 1988 Spitak earthquake.