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Senior MP Sargis Khandanyan from the ruling Civil Contract party believes Armenia’s decision to send earthquake aid to Turkey will have certain positive effects on the normalization talks between the two countries.

Turkey briefly opened its border with Armenia on Saturday to receive humanitarian aid sent by the Armenian government following the devastating earthquake on February 6.

“This is some sort of a positive signal. We see that it’s quite possible to open the border and use the communications, if desired,” he told a press briefing in the parliament on Monday.

“We hope that the Turkish government will show greater commitment to this process and we will get quick results,” said Khandanyan, who heads the parliament’s foreign relations committee.

Civil Contract faction secretary Artur Hovhannisyan defended the decision as a humanitarian step. He also responded to criticism against the Armenian government over its failure to deliver humanitarian assistance to Artsakh under blockade.

“The Lachin Corridor is blocked because Clause 6 of the 9 November 2020 agreement is not implemented. It was blocked by so-called Azerbaijani eco-activists in an effort to cause a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh and to terrorize its people,” the deputy stressed.