Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has passed on to him Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's proposal to meet. Erdogan made the remarks at a press conference on Sunday, September 19, Anadolu Agency reports.

Erdogan said his country was ready for talks with Armenia but added Yerevan needed to "take steps" toward opening a transport link through its territory, connecting Nakhijevan to the rest of Azerbaijan.

“If he (Pashinyan) would like to meet with Tayyip Erdogan, then certain steps should be taken,” Erdogan said, stressing, in particular, the creation of said transit route.

“We are not closed to talks (with Armenia), we will hold the talks,” Erdogan said.

“I hope that not a negative but a positive approach will prevail there. God willing, the problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be overcome with the opening of the corridors.”

Armenia and Turkey don't have diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s. Relations have deteriorated due to Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan, which unleashed a large-scale war against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in fall 2020.