Politics

Armenian PM visits Turkiye for ‘historic’ trip aimed at normalising ties


Nikol Pashinyan’s meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan marks Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a rare visit to Istanbul to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what Yerevan described as a “historic” step towards regional peace.

The visit on Friday was part of the two countries’ efforts to normalise ties strained over historical disputes and Ankara’s alliance with Azerbaijan, which has been in a long-simmering conflict with Armenia.

Turkiye will support Armenia’s peace efforts with Azerbaijan, Erdogan’s office said after the meeting at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace.

The two leaders also discussed possible steps for Turkiye-Armenia normalisation, the office said.

Pashinyan, writing on the X social media platform, said he had “an in depth exchange” with Erdogan.

“Discussed the Armenia–Turkiye normalization process, regional developments, and the importance of sustained dialogue,” Pashinyan wrote.

“Armenia remains committed to building peace and stability in our region,” he added.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan said: “This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Turkiye at this level. All regional issues will be discussed.

“The risks of war [with Azerbaijan] are currently minimal, and we must work to neutralise them. Pashinyan’s visit to Turkiye is a step in that direction.”

Pashinyan’s visit came a day after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks in Turkiye with Erdogan, during which he praised the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance as “a significant factor, not only regionally but also globally”, and Erdogan reiterated his support for “the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia”.

Baku and Yerevan agreed on the text of a peace deal in March, but Baku has since outlined a host of demands, including changes to Armenia’s constitution, that it wants met before it will sign the document.

Turkiye and Armenia have no formal diplomatic ties and their shared border has been closed since 1993. The meeting in Istanbul – the first “working visit” by Pashinyan to Turkiye – marks a significant step in reconciliation efforts between the pair.

Attempts at normalisation

Relations between the two nations have been historically strained over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire – atrocities historians and Yerevan say amount to genocide. Turkiye rejects the label, contending that while many people died in that era, the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest.

Ankara has also backed its close ally, Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia. This region, which had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia in the late 1980s. In 2020, Turkiye backed Azerbaijan in its second war with Armenia, which ended after six weeks with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Pashinyan has actively sought to normalise relations with both Baku and Ankara.

Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys in late 2021 to lead a normalisation process, and resumed commercial flights in 2022 after a two-year pause.

Earlier this year, Pashinyan announced Armenia would halt its campaign for international recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide – a major concession to Turkiye that sparked widespread criticism at home.

Pashinyan’s first visit to Turkiye was to attend Erdogan’s inauguration in 2023.

This is Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation. Turkiye and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and open their shared border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.



Source link