Armenian PM hails ‘in-depth’ talks with Erdoğan on ‘historic’ Turkey visit

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he held “in-depth” talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in İstanbul on Friday during a rare visit to Turkey, which Yerevan described as a “historic” step toward regional peace.

The meeting between the two leaders — whose countries have never established formal diplomatic relations and whose shared border has been closed since the 1990s — took place at Dolmabahçe Palace and lasted just over an hour, according to Erdoğan’s office.

The Turkish presidency said the talks focused on Armenia’s peace negotiations with Azerbaijan, efforts to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey, and the wider regional tensions fueled by the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, which shares borders with both Armenia and Turkey.

“President Erdoğan emphasized the significance of the consensus reached in the ongoing peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, given the current circumstances,” the statement said.

The two leaders also discussed “potential steps to be taken within the framework of the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia,” it added.

Erdoğan further noted that Turkey was working to reduce regional tensions and had been in contact with other leaders concerning the Iran-Israel standoff.

A statement from the Armenian government said: “The two leaders discussed the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, underlining the importance of continuing constructive dialogue and achieving concrete results.”

Normalization

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Pashinyan said he held an “in-depth exchange” with Erdoğan during which they “discussed the Armenia – Turkey normalization process, regional developments, and the importance of sustained dialogue.”

He reiterated that Armenia was “committed to building peace and stability in our region.”

Relations between the two countries have long been strained, primarily over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire — atrocities that Yerevan considers genocide. Turkey strongly rejects the label.

Ties have also been complicated by Ankara’s close alliance with Azerbaijan and its consistent support for Baku in its decades-long conflict with Armenia.

Pashinyan’s visit triggered criticism at home, where police reportedly detained “several dozen” opposition supporters in the capital Yerevan and elsewhere, according to rights groups and a coalition of lawyers.

Ahead of the meeting, Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters: “This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Turkey at this level.”

On Thursday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also met with Erdoğan in Turkey and described their countries’ alliance as “significant.” Erdoğan reiterated his support for “the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a draft peace agreement in March, but Baku has since introduced additional demands—including amendments to Armenia’s constitution—before signing the treaty.

Pashinyan concession

Pashinyan has actively worked to normalize relations with both Baku and Ankara.

“Pashinyan is very keen to break Armenia out of its isolation, and the best way to do that is through a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and a normalization agreement with Turkey,” Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The primary obstacle to normalization with Turkey, he said, was Azerbaijan.

Opening the Turkey–Armenia border would not only benefit the local economy in eastern Turkey but also reduce Russian influence in the region and potentially improve Ankara’s relations with Washington and other Western partners, de Waal noted.

“Pashinyan by himself won’t make this happen—it’s only when it moves higher up the Western agenda with Turkey that you might see change.”

Earlier this year, Pashinyan announced that Armenia would suspend its campaign for international recognition of the 1915 mass killings as genocide. The move, viewed as a significant concession to Turkey, provoked widespread criticism within Armenia.

This was Pashinyan’s second visit to Turkey. He previously attended Erdoğan’s inauguration in 2023.

In late 2021, Turkey and Armenia appointed special envoys to lead a normalization process, following Armenia’s military defeat to Azerbaijan in the second Karabakh war. The two countries resumed commercial flights in 2022 after a two-year hiatus.

© Agence France-Presse